The Spring 2009 No.8

ORGANICThe journal of the Organic GROWER Growers Alliance IN THIS ISSUE Vegetables with News - our 2nd AGM and more...... 2 purpose The organic market report...... 9 Organic growers are a hard-working bunch, that’s obvious. When gathered together, besides the partying which happens now and again, Unweaving the web...... 11 they like to talk about growing. That should be obvious too, to anyone The economics of growing by hand...... 12 who reads this magazine. Perhaps because most have come to land work from something else and appreciate its otherness, its difference to the Crop planning - nightmare or salvation...14 dominant urban-centred culture, they generally seem to take a searching view of their work and its responsibilities. And there is nowhere to hide Leeks - the co-op way...... 16 when you are a grower, what you do is in the open. Producing foodstuffs that go naked and unadorned from your land to the kitchen of their Chickweed - in profile...... 19 purchasers, you are in some sense presenting yourself to the world. See those ranks of anonymous fruits and vegetables shivering in the Flaming weeds...... 22 small part of the supermarket set apart for nudity? Even they, scrubbed Pastures new, fingers crossed...... 26 and labelled, have something to say about themselves and those who produced them – while most of the rest of the store, muffled in packaging, Growing fruit trees on their own roots.....28 is silent as a tomb. There is the soil too, the source of life. No one needs to understand it Postcard from Korea...... 30 so well or has a closer relationship with it than a vegetable grower. So one way and another organic growers take a profound interest in what HDRA to Garden Organic...... 32 they do. Often this extends to appreciating the context within which they Self portrait - Fenella’s Garden...... 37 work, the interaction between working the land and issues of equity, consumption, energy use and so on – all the various facets that make up Letters...... 38 environmental responsibility in its widest sense. In short – they care not just about the practice but also the principle of the thing.

Fieldnotes and queries...... 40 Unfortunately the organic market is now so wide and so diverse that principle does not always get much of a look-in. Or it may be that the Nature notes...... 41 very width and universality of the market means that different principles apply in different places within it. Most growers within the OGA will Cabbage comment...... 42 have an understanding of what “organic” means, derived from their Events...... 44 experience of how the soil functions and how organic techniques work in practice. This will owe something, directly or not, to the work of Howard

Page 1 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 and Balfour and others who saw and explained that the future of agriculture lies in working within the whole of the cycle of fertility, instead of taking it to bits and fashioning it to our reductionist science. To farm organically is to understand that the carbon cycle, whereby atmospheric carbon is fixed through photosynthesis and NEWS transferred to the soil as organic matter, is sufficient in itself. It can be encouraged, but cannot be improved on. Go to Hardwick and The 2nd Annual General Meeting - you will see the truth of this made plain. Penpont, Brecon What the public, and indeed many producers, understand by The vernal equinox is a gateway to the new season and so a timely organic is usually something quite different. The unprincipled day on which to hold the OGA’s annual meeting – last season message focuses on the nature of the inputs– that to be organic is overlain by anticipation of the new, but still before the urgency to not use all the nasty things that other farmers use. This is easy of spring work makes leaving the holding unthinkable. Often to understand and has a direct appeal to people’s self-interest in stormy, this equinox was balmy – the limpid sunlight heartening avoiding substances that might do them harm, but it misses the the awakened earth, and the further into the Welsh hills the balmier heart of organic practice. It signifies only a partial distinction which it got. can be chipped away at by non-organic but self-professed ethical regimes – conservation grades, IPM and LEAF programmes and The venue would have been hard to improve on. Penpont House the like. is a comely, four-square and almost modestly sized mansion, built in the seventeenth century, remodelled in the eighteenth. In some parts of the world organic standards are more about the It lies on the level floor of the Usk Valley, where the grounds of nature of the inputs used than any virtuous cycle underlying the house are well planted with fine trees, young and old, and production. Even in the UK, where standards are founded on the Brecon Beacons rise up on either side. Our hosts, Gavin and what we understand as the fundamentals of organic agriculture, Davina Hogg, were wonderfully welcoming and generous in their the ingenuity of the agricultural supply trade knows few bounds hospitality. Starting out with a tasty lunch in the dining room we in introducing endless variations on the theme of an acceptable returned there for tea and cake after the meeting. By the end of input for every need. When organic agriculture goes this way it the day Davina had also provided a dinner for thirty one assorted begins to resemble a mirror image of what it set out to change. organic growers, more than half of whom were then comfortably As regulation strives to reduce the threats to the environment billeted around the house. To say nothing of breakfast to come. and human health by outlawing the direst of chemical inputs we may all, organic and non-organic, end up using the same range of The meeting itself was held on the lawn in front of the house. We “biological crop protection products”. Then it will be no surprise dragged chairs out from the dining room and elsewhere, and sat if the public wonders what it is paying for. in the sunshine with the youthful Usk burbling pleasantly in the near background. Growers may feel despair that the meaning of “organic” exemplified on their holdings is becoming diluted elsewhere, and even losing its force in the market place. What we have on our side are qualities that arise from what we do and the way we do it. Some marketing is about selling your honour and integrity first, and the product after it. As we produce basic necessities of life out of the most basic of materials, we can sell what we produce through the honour and integrity of what we do. We have too a purpose, a sense of where we are in the scheme of things. These are qualities we can present to our public, along with our vegetables.

Should you get this in time . . . Photo: Phil Sumption Phil Photo:

SA licensees! – last AGM

chance to vote for Following his introduction and welcome to the forty members Farmer and Grower attending (admittedly a few were too late to hear it), chairman Board. Ballot closes Alan Schofield talked about how he felt that the OGA had “grown up” over the last year, the Alliance responding and dealing with May 29th. several real issues very effectively. The problems of manure contamination and the subsequent banning (for now at least) of

Page 2 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 aminopyralid was, he thought, the most poignant and crucial. So Patrick Lynn had notified their willingness to stand for membership far as the OGA’s relationship with the Soil Association and SACL of it. Both were duly appointed. (which certifies the majority of growers) is concerned - both he and Under Any Other Business the suggestion was made that OGA committee member Pete Richardson have been appointed charitable status would have advantages over our present to the SA’s Farmer and Grower board. This will significantly Community Interest Company status as there is a possibility of strengthen our voice in the activities and decision making of the charitable funding which would allow the OGA to expand its SA. Compliments were made to James Clapp for all the work he activities. There was also a call for the OGA to have a presence has put into last year’s events and this year’s programme, and also at more AGMs of relevant bodies (e.g. the SA, Garden Organic). to The Organic Grower and its editors. There was strong agreement that this would be desirable and Treasurer Debra Schofield told us that membership was currently that expenses for OGA delegates to attend such events could be 168, a rise of a third on a year ago. She showed that income and budgeted for. expenditure were balanced and that the membership fee remained Before the meeting closed Roger Hitchings, who is chairman of adequate to cover operating expenses, which chiefly consist of the ACOS Technical Committee, gave a run through of what’s funding the magazine and website. Events are self-funding while new in the world of organic standards since the introduction of office expenses are minimal and the committee cheap to keep, the new EU regulation in January. While this had yet to have as its members have so far not claimed the up-to £50 expenses much or any impact on OGA members there are issues to be for each meeting allocated to them at the last AGM. However it aware of. The pesticide Spinosad now has approval, although as is reasonable that committee members should be offered some it can kill bees most of those present would rather do without it. contribution towards meetings expenses, and nobody should In the long-running controversy of “crops in pots” the UK is still feel excluded by a reluctance to claim. In discussion regarding holding the line at herbs and ornamentals, though the regulation membership matters it was agreed that a directory of members can be interpreted to allow organic crop production out of the soil would be published (for circulation to members only) which gives so long as the substrate is composed of more than 50% material details of locality rather than address so as not to fall foul of data of organic origin. Looking ahead – protected cropping standards protection considerations. It is hoped that this will both enhance a are on the Brussels agenda. With Roger’s help Iceland is about sense of connection among members and increase membership by to introduce such standards and so is showing the lead in this encouraging recruitment of those not on the list. matter, if not in others. Seeds, as ever, remain on all our agendas. The editors of The Organic Grower gave heartfelt thanks to all Roger indicated that some breeding techniques such as protoplast its contributors (it is wonderful how contributions keep coming) fusion (which many feel to be tantamount to genetic modification) but made a particular plea for more titbits and observations for may be ruled out in future. This would particularly affect organic the Fieldnotes and Queries section. Phil Sumption explained that growers’ access to hybrid brassicas. with the purchase of appropriate software the magazine can now At this point someone might have stood up and paid tribute to the be produced in house, which is a welcome simplification of the chairman and treasurer. As no one did, we’ll rectify it now – thank production process. A suggestion was made that a self-penned you, Alan and Debra, for all the hard work that you have put into profile of members could be a regular feature. You will see on p. keeping the Alliance alive and kicking in this past year. 37 that the speaker has made good on her suggestion. Further self- portraits are up to you! WALK

The inactive state of the website was raised and the subject given Well refreshed with tea and cake we followed James Clapp, who an airing. Patrick Lynn has agreed to take the lead role in bringing is the Penpont head gardener, past Gavin’s splendid elephant its content management in hand. Funds of £600 are available topiary and over the three arched stone bridge across the Usk which should be ample to get it functioning properly. to the walled gardens beyond. James, who used to work at Riverford and knows a thing or two about bigness, was a little James Clapp gave an overview of the events programme for this apologetic about the smallness of this enterprise, but he had no year. A total of 6 were planned which would be starting soon. need to be as any grower could see the work and care that goes After last year he had decided to avoid timetabling anything in into vegetable production at Penpont. Though the hills are brown the summer as people were obviously just too busy. He made a the underlying colour of the Brecon Beacons is surprisingly pink, general plea for people to book early. The main point of discussion which gives a sense of warmth and unexpected fertility to the regarding events was whether there could be a way of subsiding landscape. Of course the soil of the gardens has been much altered those that are less well attended. This matter will be on the agenda through long use, but the original material is a decent reddish of the next committee meeting. sandy-clay loam. The gardens feed the estate and supply several Two committee members, Iain Tolhurst and Remke Cool, were outlets within seven miles with a succession of salads, vegetables, standing down and were thanked for their input.. Peter Dollimore fruits and flowers. In particular they keep the popular Garden had joined the committee during the year while Colette Haynes and Shop well supplied between June and the year end. The variety

Page 3 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 of crops grown, the orderly layout of the beds and the deference New committee members: to aesthetic considerations are all within the old tradition. At the Peter Dollimore same time, where one man manages what used to be managed by many and commerce cannot be ignored, modern techniques I was asked to join the committee after and materials must have their place. Penpont is a happy marriage we ran the Protected Cropping event at of both strands. A small and venerable glasshouse serves as Hankham. I’ve been growing organically propagating space (James does all his own) while single span for 11 years, mainly under glass, and at 34 polytunnels do what they always do, and in them we were able to could be considered a relative whipper- see the last phase of autumn-sown crops as well as the beginnings snapper. I became passionate about of this summer’s. James bemoaned the death of much of the purple the imperative for change in agri/horticultural systems after sprouting, killed by the severity of the frost in what is reputed to studying for an Environmental Science degree at Aberystwyth. be one of the coldest spots, if not the coldest spot, in Wales. Many Since then I have been working to prove to myself and others of us admired his 11 hp SEP pedestrian cultivator (Italian) and in that organic systems must/can/do work. In 2001 I met Miles and particular its rotary plough attachment. All in all the gardens are a while he was building up a successful business but struggling testament to the joint enterprise of James and Davina. to find time to grow stuff, I was growing on an unsecured plot with little clue who was going to buy the stuff! We now run a 500 drop box scheme from a 1.5 acre glasshouse and 2.5 acres of field. Specialising in high value, glasshouse and leafy crops we produce about half of the annual box contents and half of what we produce is wholesaled locally. Please take a look at www.hankhamorganics.co.uk.

Colette Haynes

Side shifted into organic growing at the age of 26 when a friend took on Charles Dowding’s holding in Somerset in 1991.

Charles was in France for the duration but Sumption Phil Photo: his system and gardens were inspiration DINNER FOR 31 – Debra Schofield reports: enough to propel Peter and myself to purchase a plot of land in Sussex to attempt a similar enterprise by 1994. Made life difficult Catering for 30 - 40 people is always daunting - many people for ourselves by breaking all the No. 1 rules in business - zero would think of getting in caterers. It’s especially difficult when working capital and our first child in the first year (believing you don’t have accurate numbers for how many are coming for children to be things you could strap to your back). But despite lunch and how many staying for dinner. Davina had spent at least all odds have survived and thrived well enough. Testament to two days getting ready. One day is spent just making the lists and the fact that it CAN be done, given the energy, some good soil and doing the shopping. The next is spent with preparation, not only the strong grassroots support of our loyal customer base willing of the food but also the seating and setting, and the little things us to be there. like are there enough bowls, knives, forks, salt and pepper pots etc. And then there’s the logistics of keeping the food hot while Joined the OGA committee after voicing my support for it at the you serve it all up. Organic Producer Conference. Hope to be of some use on the communication front within the membership and to perhaps On the night everyone helped out, firstly by laying up the table help market our message further afield. for thirty-one and later with clearing up the dishes. After that we settled in the sitting room in front of the fire, with beer and Patrick Lynn wine flowing and Gavin and other musicians present making Patrick runs Red Earth Organics, a veg up an impromptu band. I knew that this was going to be one of box scheme in Nottinghamshire which those memorable evenings with friends all mucking in together. he started in 2006. He grows on 7 acres of It felt so homely! The organic pioneers believed that we should clay loam land and has recently planted an produce foods of high nutritional quality and consume them as orchard to produce fruit for his box scheme. little altered from their natural state as possible and as close to Previously he worked with VSO and Oxfam in Indonesia for 2 home as possible. So I’m sure they would have applauded the years advising organic rice farmers on how to improve their evening after the AGM that we had together. I hope that Davina marketing and small business skills. Previous to this he worked found hosting an OGA event enjoyable, if not exactly easy. in commercial horticulture supplying supermarkets.

Page 4 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Organic pesticides fall victim of EU pesticide directive Nearly half of the pesticides listed for use by organic farmers under the EU’s Organic Regulation have not passed their safety evaluation under the EU’s review under Directive 91/414/EEC. This directive states that substances cannot be used in plant protection products unless they are included in a positive EU list.

Substances Approved Non- approved Substances of crop or animal origin: Azadirachtin X Gelatine X Hydrolysed proteins X Lecithin X Mint oil X Pine oil X Pyrethrins X Quassia X Rotenone X Substances produced by micro-organisms: Spinosad X Substances to be used in traps and/or dispensers: Diammonium phosphate X Pheromones X Deltamethrin X Lambdacyhalothrin X Preparations to be surface-spread between cultivated plants: Ferric phosphate X Other substances from traditional use in organic farming: Copper X Ethylene X Fatty acid potassium salt X Aluminium sulphate X Calcium polysulphide (lime sulphur) X Paraffin oil X Mineral oils X Potassium permanganate X Quartz sand X Sulphur X Calcium hydroxide X

Potassium hydrogen carbonate X

Photos: Phil Sumption Phil Photos: TOTAL: 14 13

Source: European Crop Protection Association www.ecpa.be

Page 5 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Once a substance is included Member States may authorise the use fluorescent pseudomonads and filamentous actinomycetes were of products containing them. The EU has, however, authorised a consistently higher for soils augmented with earthworms. In number of pesticides commonly used in organic farming under the studies with Verticillium wilt of aubergines, compared to the framework of the EU’s review of plant protection active the controls, the densities of total bacteria and Mn-transforming substances. These include copper hydroxide, copper oxide, copper microbes were reduced in the presence of earthworms while oxychloride, copper sulphate and Bordeaux mixture (copper population densities of bacilli and Trichoderma spp. were sulphate and calcium hydroxide), which are used as bactericides not affected. Disease suppression may have been mediated and fungicides. through microbiological activity. These studies suggest that

The biggest impact for most organic growers will be the non- strategies to increase earthworm densities in soil should suppress approval of fatty acid potassium salt (soft soap e.g. Savona). soil-borne diseases.

The Soil Association had already tightened up on its use with Source Plant Disease February 2009, Volume 93 permission only granted if a major threat to crops. Rotenone has already been withdrawn from general use (OG#5) but had been granted essential use in the UK on apple, pear, peach, Water framework directive cherry, ornamentals and potato. Azadirachtin, which is the active impact on pesticides ingredient of neem products, has never had PSD approval for use A new report from ADAS suggests that the implementation in the UK. These withdrawals were said to be based on credible, of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) could have a much independent scientific analysis. However, according to the ECPA, greater impact on conventional growers than the EC approvals the new regulation governing the approval of plant protection regulations. The WFD would assess pesticides affects on water products for market incorporates “hazard-based criteria” and quality in surface, ground and drinking water. In the directive does not assess the actual risk of exposure posed against the environmental quality standards have been set with aquatic life of benefits, but only the potential hazard of the active ingredient rivers and other surface waters in mind and a range of ecological measured under conditions that would never actually occur in indicators such as macrophytes, invertebrates and fish would be normal use. They say this will result in banning products that are used. Good chemical status of the water will also be important judged safe for use today. and there are concentration limits below which the EA wouldn’t The rules are due to come into force in 2010. Let us know what expect to see any impact on aquatic life. A number of active effect these changes might have on your businesses. substances are at risk, according to ADAS, particularly herbicides for control of blackgrass and metaldehyde for slug control, which Research shows is under scrutiny because it is being found in water. Residual herbicides that are applied in large doses, directly to the soil on earthworms may help large areas of land (mainly cereals) and that work most effectively combat crop diseases. in moist conditions are most at risk of breaching the directive’s ecological or chemical water standards. The Environment Agency Earthworm densities have been regarded as reliable indicators has stressed, however, that it wants to use voluntary approaches of soil health, but their role in suppression of plant disease has where possible to overcome issues with certain pesticides in water not received much attention. Researchers at the University of but, if all other measures fail, severe restrictions or bans might Connecticut carried out several greenhouse studies to determine be put in place. These include the possibility of creating water if soils infested with soil-borne pathogens and augmented with protection zones, a concept that allows regulators to designate earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris) could reduce disease of areas for special measures where those softer options are shown susceptible cultivars of asparagus, aubergine, and tomato. Soils to be failing. planted with asparagus were infested with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. asparagi and F. proliferatum, aubergine with Verticillium dahliae, and tomato with F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici Race 1. In each Horticulture saves £1.9 host–disease system, earthworm activity was associated with an million a year from CCL increase in plant growth and a decrease in disease. In general, plant weights were discount - are you getting increased 60 to 80% your share? and estimates of disease were reduced 50 to 70% when soils Growers are being urged to make sure they are not missing were augmented out on the chance to save thousands of pounds through the with earthworms. Climate Change Levy (CCL) agreement negotiated by the NFU. Densities of Growers now registered to get CCL discount are saving an

Page 6 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 average of £14,000 a year in tax payments, on top of the energy Organic Fruit Production savings associated with the scheme. But if you are not registered to get the discount you need to act fast as new applicants to the and Viticulture - A current CCL scheme need to be signed up by the end of July. Complete Guide

When the CCL was introduced by Government in 2001 as Organic Fruit Production and Viticulture - A Complete Guide, a new tax to encourage businesses to save energy, many to be published in June, is the latest in a series of books from growers saw it as an extra cost they could do without. Crowood Press on organic production, following books on But thanks to the efforts of the NFU, growers of protected organic vegetables, organic weed management and organic arable horticultural crops who meet energy saving targets can get an production. The author, Stella Cubison has been a fruit research 80 per cent CCL discount - vastly reducing the impact of the tax. officer at Garden Organic (formerly HDRA) for nearly ten years and has worked on many aspects of commercial top and soft fruit. Chris Plackett, from energy experts FEC Services who run the This book covers the organic cultivation of all of the most popular scheme for the NFU, said: “The current discount arrangements end pome and stone fruits, strawberries, cane and bush fruits. A in 2013 and to meet the rules any new entrants or people wishing separate wide-ranging chapter, written by Roy Cook, is provided to rejoin must start their application process as soon as possible. on viticulture For each fruit crop, advice and information is provided on the “Some growers have been put off joining the scheme because latest suitable varieties and rootstocks, growing systems, pruning they think it is too complex and are frightened that they won’t and training, crop care, harvesting and storage, and pest and meet the energy saving targets. While the targets are challenging, disease management. General aspects of organic production most growers are able to meet them and make significant are examined in detail in individual chapters covering organic savings in the process. Even if they don’t meet their target, principles and conversion, soil fertility and crop nutrition, weed participants can take part in carbon trading and still save money.” and habitat management, and protected production. The volume also contains a chapter which analyses the market for organic fruit, The NFU CCL scheme service is designed to make life for retail opportunities and other important outlets. We will review it growers as easy as possible. Once set up, all that is needed in the next issue of The Organic Grower. is to occasionally send energy meter readings to the team at FEC and they do the rest - even down to making all the arrangements for any carbon trading that might be needed.

Gary Taylor, nursery managing director of Valley Grown Nurseries and vice chairman of the NFU horticulture board, said: “There are savings to be made without spending any money. There are things people can do to optimise the performance of their computers and their computer settings which have a significant effect. Some growers have the tools in place but don’t necessarily use them to their maximum potential. The CCL scheme focuses people’s minds on what is possible to achieve.” Combatting Sclerotinia in Sarah Fairhurst, quality controller at Porters Horticultural Ltd, carrots said: “The scheme encouraged us to look at our energy costs, to think about how we could improve the way we use energy, Clipping canopy foliage in carrots can reduce Sclerotinia and to assess whether savings could be made. We’ve been able in carrots, according to crop consultant Howard Finds. The to take simple low-cost measures that have saved us energy technique was first developed in Canada and was trialled last and, in turn, money. Joining the scheme focused our minds year in Nottinghamshire. It allows more air movement, which is and has made us more aware of energy saving generally.” unfavourable to disease spread. The dense and closed canopies of carrots provide favourable conditions for the development of the Anyone who thinks they may be eligible for the discount should pathogen and disease, and senescing leaves in contact with soil are contact FEC on 024 7669 6512 and a member of the CCL scheme most susceptible to infection. The Canadian technique involves team will guide you through the arrangements and tell you what laterally clipping to 60% of the original width by removing (from your individual savings might be. both sides of the carrot bed) 20% of the overlapping leaves above the furrow as well as the senescing leaves lying on the soil after sighting of the first apothecia (specialised structures containing spores produced by this pathogen). Clipping can suppress the

Page 7 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 production of apothecia by increasing the temperature and Fungi and roundworms for reducing moisture in the crop. In addition clipping can suppress disease by removing susceptible tissue and minimising plant- wireworm control to-soil and plant-to-plant contact. Canadian growers using a A new study conducted by the University of Swansea has ridge system are able to clip between individual sets of rows, identified some naturally occurring options for wireworm control. whereas on UK bed systems only the outside of the beds can The study identified two types of parasitic fungi and one type of be clipped. However this still reduced infection by 50% in the parasitic nematode (or roundworm) that showed promise for Nottinghamshire trials, compared to 76% in the Canadian trials. development. Sclerotinia development is also favoured by higher nitrogen The researchers investigated the pesticidal properties of six fungi which creates a lush canopy and by large droplet irrigation (e.g and twelve nematodes in all. The wireworms were exposed to from hose reels) which can cause canopies to fall over. the different parasites with consequent mortality assessed every week for three weeks. The dead larvae were dissected to confirm OGI up and running the cause of death. Differences in the effects of the fungi and nematodes were analysed statistically. The steering committee of the Organic Growers of Ireland reported a huge response to their launch and workshop at the After three weeks, there were significant differences in the effects National Organic Training Skillnet (NOTS) conference held in of the fungi. Most striking were the effects of the Metarhizium March. Over 80 people attended the session and the majority of anisopliae strains, V1002 and LRC181A, which caused 90-100 those present signed up to become members of the group. In the per cent mortality. There were also significant differences in the words of Jason Horner “The lack of any formal structure or plan to parasitic effects of the different types of nematode. The most develop organic horticulture was the critical factor in encouraging aggressive was the UK strain of Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, growers to organise themselves”. The aims of the organisation are: UWS1, that caused 67 per cent mortality.

• To represent the needs and views of Irish growers Source: Ansari, M.A., Evans, M and Butt, T.M. (2009). Identification of pathogenic strains of entomopathogenic nematodes and fungi for wireworm control. Crop Protection. 28: 269-272. • To support effective and dynamic promotion of organic produce

• To identify training needs of growers US organic growth bucks

• To share practical and market information and facilitate recession networking between members. Sales of organic food in the US were up by 15.8% in 2008 according • To improve access to technical information onorganic to a survey carried out by the Lieberman Research Group on behalf horticulture of the Organic Trade Association (OTA). This is despite many gloomy predictions, with market researchers foreseeing a slump • To encourage new entrants to organic production in more pricy goods, including organic food. OTA’s executive Arising from the discussion and questionnaires completed director Christine Bushway said: “Organic products represent by those present, the main needs of growers included greater value to consumers, who have shown continued resilience in communication through farm walks, workshops and social events; seeking out these products. This marks another milestone for the some type of loose co-operation to facilitate marketing and an on organic food market.” This survey also found that organic food line facility to advertise goods for sale. The need for a website to accounted for about 3.5 percent of US food sales last year, with a assist with these requirements was strongly emphasised. total value of $22.9bn. Additionally, organic food sales increased

Speaking after the event, Jason Horner said “We were surprised at about three times the rate of general US food sales, which grew and delighted at the level of interest in the growers group. We are by 4.9 percent during the year. Fruit and vegetables still represent setting up at a very good time because getting back to gardening the biggest sub-sector of organic food sales at 37 percent. and growing your own has such a high profile in the media at present”. However he emphasised that committee members were Greens working on a voluntary basis and needed as much help and input from members as possible. Alan Schofield (OGA chair) and David Gibbon (OGA member, see p.32) are standing for the green party in the local elections The committee has agreed a number of actions as a priority for (mainly as an anti BNP stance). Alan will be standing in Wyreside 2009. Quotes are currently being sought to set up a website for and David in Church Stretton and Craven Arms. the group, a series of farm walks have been organised and work will begin on a national plan for the development of horticulture. The OGA welcomes the formation of the OGI and has offered OGI members subscriptions to The Organic Grower at cost price.

Page 8 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Soil Association Market 8.1% of UK organic market as a whole. Organic sales through farmers’ markets is worth £23.7 million, which is up 18.6% on 2007 Report 2009 and is estimated to account for 9.5% of the turnover of farmers’ The Soil Association released its market report in April 2009, to markets. Markets with a strong community presence and those perhaps less of a fanfare than we have got used to in recent years. held at least fortnightly have been performing particularly well. This is understandable given present financial conditions and Sales have also been volatile with Andrew Dennis of Woodlands one can only speculate as to why there was no report released Farm in Lincolnshire quoted as saying “we got off to a cracking in 2008… As ever the SA tries to give a positive spin on things start at farmers’ markets in 2008 but there was a sudden change and reports that sales of organic food increased by 1.7% last year from mid-October. Almost overnight people appeared to become – in marked contrast to the prophecies of doom made by some. acutely aware of the credit squeeze and our sales dropped between This growth they say points to some underlying resilience in 20 and 30%. Since then they’ve recovered somewhat, so it’s really the organic market, suggesting that it has the potential to grow quite difficult to predict what will happen in 2009.” Farm shops dynamically once the economy picks up. However this statistic are the fastest growing format for food retailing, according to the must be seen in the context of overall food price rises rather than Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) and the SA estimates the sales volume increases. value of organic produce sold through farm shops to be £37.9 million in 2008, representing a 1.5% increase in sales since 2007. Sales increased at Asda and Morrisons as some cash-conscious shoppers switched allegiance to retailers with lower prices. Asda Organic shoppers, like all consumers, have been buying fewer increased sales of organic products by 25% in 2008 and its share premium products and prepared foods, and switching to lower of the market from 8% to around 10%. This is attributed to its cost retailers. There is also a focus on cutting waste and cooking decision to abandon a separate organic section and integrate fresh from scratch - sales of organic home cooking ingredients increased produce with non-organic equivalent. Asda also increased UK by a remarkable 13.5% in 2008, while sales of organic prepared sourcing in 2008, including its first UK apples. Around half of its foods dropped sharply. organic soft fruit and half of its organic vegetables sold in 2008 The report shows that there is a core of consumers who may be were UK sourced, including 37% of onions, 46% of potatoes and cutting back but are determined to stick to their organic principles. 88% of carrots. The three supermarket groups with the biggest Thirty-six per cent of these committed organic consumers say organic market shares – Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose – saw they expect to spend more on organic food in 2009, and only 15% their sales fall to some extent in 2008. Tesco is still the market expect to spend less. However amongst the general populace only leader in terms of value despite a fall in organic sales of 9.9% in 11% expect to spend more on organic food this year, with 33% 2008. They do however report that sales of organic fruit, salad and expecting to spend less. vegetables, which account for 42% of their organic turnover, have Research shows that over a quarter of consumers who do not started to pick up early in 2009. Sainsburys estimate that 50% of currently buy organic food ‘would like to know more about their organic vegetables are UK produced. Sales also dropped at organic products than they do’ suggesting potential to broaden Marks and Spencer. the market still further in the future. Organic sales through independent retail outlets stayed relatively Whilst volatility in the organic market looks set to remain in static, increasing by 1.4% since 2007. Sales were strong in the first 2009, environmental and political challenges to our current food half of 2008, but then subject to volatility and variation, with some and farming systems will demand that we develop sustainable retailers and producers reporting a significant drop in customers production methods in the future. The government has agreed to and/or income since October while others reporting that sales are cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. Such cuts can only picking up after the initial impact of the downturn. SA research for be achieved in agriculture by deriving fertility from sunshine and the report suggest that a majority of the smallest box schemes are organic matter – as organic farmers do – rather than from fossil maintaining sales, whereas medium-sized box schemes are worst fuel-based chemical fertilisers. off, suggesting they have a smaller core of fiercely committed customers than the smallest schemes, yet lack the marketing Additionally, rising fossil fuel costs now and in the long term resources of the biggest players to pull in new business. Abel and mean the price differential between organic and non-organic Cole increased turnover by 21% in the year to August 2008, which products is diminishing (and is in some cases is non-existent, it put down to growth in range of products. Riverford reported where consumers buy directly from producers), offering further a 6% increase in 2008, though they lost ‘a trickle of customers strong potential for future growth in the organic market. in the final quarter, usually following redundancies and more The amount of land managed to organic standards in the UK noticeably in some parts of the country than others.’ Overall, sales increased by 10% in 2007 to 676,387ha (3.9% of the UK’s agricultural from producer and retailer-owned box schemes, mail order and land area). Substantial growth in the amount of land under fully other home-delivery were worth an estimated £170.9 million in organic management was experienced in England (13%) and 2008, down 0.5% on 2007, but still 30% of independent sales and Northern Ireland (43%), while Wales experienced limited growth

Page 9 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 of 3% and Scotland a minor reduction of 3%. In-conversion land growth has faltered. It has not necessarily gone into reverse, now makes up 23% of the UK’s organically managed land area. but there is a feeling that 2009 will prove to be difficult. Peter This represents 155,898ha of land, an increase of 31% since January Cornish of Pollybell Farms told us that wholesale customers 2007. This growth trend is not consistent between countries, with have indicated a 20% decline in some lines, but with others substantial increases in England (35%) and Wales (100%) making increasing. Pollybell are “ back to basics” in their mix of crops and up for reductions in Scotland (1%) and Northern Ireland (21%). expecting no increase in prices, the challenge being to increase What will happen when this land is converted remains to be seen. output for a narrower range of crops.

2006 2007 2008 Annual Perhaps not surprisingly, because close marketing relationships change (%) are easier to build and maintain where volumes are low, several Alliums and root vegetables 1557 1918 2111 10 smaller producers have stated their continued optimism. One Potatoes 1873 2063 2550 24 family holding in West Devon told us that their sales were “romping Green vegetables, salads and 3197 3301 4037 22 away” and that their Easter Farmers Market had been “even better” protected crops than the one just before Christmas. They pointed out that so long Fruit 1568 1784 1467 -18 as they are still in work people were often better off than before, Herbs 619 616 486 -21 due to lower interest rates. For a one full-timer operation in the far Flowers and ornamentals 31 22 8 -59 west of Cornwall 2008 was the best year ever and this year looked Total 8845 9704 10660 10 promising with all (local) outlets increasing trade. Another family Fully organic horticultural production (ha) in the UK, 2006-08 concern (in mid-Devon) told us that they now have a waiting list for boxes and that retailers supplied by them were increasing sales. On TNS Worldpanel data showed sales of organic vegetables the other hand a larger producer, in a more urbanised part of the accounted for 16.3% of overall consumer spending on organic county where there is more competition, reported that his feeling products, a drop of 4.9% from 2007. Fruit accounted for 8.6%, a of guarded optimism at the end of 2008 had been replaced by fears fall of 13.5% from 2007. In the horticultural section of the report, that it would be difficult to maintain volumes this year. A business it mentions that the perception-often wrong- that fresh organic of similar size serving similar outlets (boxes and some wholesale), produce is more expensive than non-organic has contributed to a this time in Somerset, told us that they had experienced a decline levelling off and in many cases, a reduction in sales, even for those in demand last season but that by February and March it was producers selling directly. The two poor summers together with increasing again so that they now feel “quietly confident”. this economic downturn have meant that growers have had to be more creative and persistent in order to survive, whilst cutting The fullest response, and one which indicates the complexities back on production and staffing. A small number of producers and idiosyncrasies of the organic market, came from Miles Denyer have pulled out of vegetable production all together, though of Hankham Organics in Sussex and this we are quoting at length: not necessarily out of organic production. Though weather has “We experienced steady growth until 2005. Throughout 2006 and been kinder to top fruit growers with low scab levels and good 2007 the market for our vegetable boxes began to show a steady yields, UK self-sufficiency is still very low and the area down to decline, despite it being a time of significant increase in national fruit has dropped. Many UK supermarkets were unable to supply sales of organic produce. We can only guess at the reason for UK apples beyond October. This situation should improve with this, but it was most likely the result of greater availability and some large orchards coming on stream, but the report says there public awareness of organic produce from supermarkets and should still be additional opportunities for fruit growers in the national box schemes. During this period we continued to grow coming years. The effects of peak oil and climate change, as well more of our own produce, with the emphasis on improving as changing customer demands make the organic fresh produce variety rather than growing more of the same thing. This has market well placed to compete with both imports and produce had the benefit of improving the appeal of our vegetable boxes from non organic systems. However, in the short term there may and - following stable demand in 2008 - we are now starting to still be challenging times ahead and price comparison marketing see customer numbers rise. We have also increased the amount is essential to ensure customers are aware of the value available of our produce we wholesale to local shops and box schemes. from local sales of unprocessed organic produce. Our emphasis continues to be on investment in growing produce ************************************************************************** rather than marketing. We have chosen to limit our market to the area between Brighton and Hastings, which helps keep our In the course of producing this magazine we have tried to get an produce fresh and delivery costs low. We are experiencing strong idea of how the current market looks from the ground up. What support from customers who want to cook at home perhaps a follows is no sort of scientific survey, just the impression we have little more often and enjoy excellent ingredients in the process. gained from those we have managed to talk to.

At the larger end of horticultural production there is certainly We are full of optimism for 2009”. a feeling of unease and the recognition that long-continued

Page 10 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Unweaving the web Whether we like it or not, the World Wide Web has crashed Keeping With It unceremoniously into 21st century living. Whether you consider it a force for good or for ill, it is one we can’t ignore. How it works If you have a website which involves anything to with dates (box remains a mystery to me, and what I write here is based on my contents, events, news items) it is essential to keep it up-to-date. experience as a frequent user rather than one of the web designer Anything more than a week out-of-date and it doesn’t reflect well gurus who get paid more in a week than the value of my entire on the business. Anything more than a few months out-of-date potato crop. The aim of this article is to help us take advantage of and people may assume you are no longer trading (particularly World Wide Web as a marketing tool for all our businesses and in these economic times). The best way of keeping it up-to-date is organisations. doing it yourself via a CMS system, so you have the responsibility yourself for keeping it looking current Getting a Website Websites are probably now one of the simplest and cheapest forms of advertising. A website should look good and be well laid out. A poorly designed and chaotic website is an instant turn-off and might as well not be there. A good website does not necessarily have to be expensive, in fact I’ve seen all singing and dancing websites that have been over-engineered to the point that you’re not quite sure what they’re trying to sell.

A basic website will cost £500-1000, a slightly more ‘finished’ one with content management features £1000-2000 and one with log- in systems for your customers and shop and payment facilities, a lot more. A good place to start to look is your customer base, especially if you run a box scheme, as a web-designer customer Another way of keeping your customers up-to-date is using may feel particularly benevolent towards you in terms of price, simple emails. I know of some box schemes who now send out and I know of at least one box scheme who got theirs done for free. the majority of invoices and newsletters by email saving a vast amount of paper and ink cartridges in the process. Emails can also My website (www.redearthorganics.co.uk) was designed and use mailing lists to keep on the radar ex-customers or potential built by a company called Turtle Reality (unsurprisingly found on customers whose e-addresses you’ve picked up at farmers the web) with a Content Management System (CMS) that allows markets and elsewhere. me to update the box contents and news section from another password protected website. The website is quite basic but Patrick Lynn effective and cost me about £1300. It remains the best marketing Patrick grows his vegetables near Southwell, Notts money I’ve ever spent.

Being Found Search engines are the machine that brings potential customers to a website. Our website now takes 95% of our orders, and over 50% of initial orders came via web searches using Google (known due to ‘How did you find us?’ section on our order form.). The power of this can’t be ignored. There are a lot of people out there searching for organic vegetables and search engines gives people the power to search find us. Google adwords accounts can also be worth looking at. Apart from being quite cost effective advertising they bring you excellent information on what’s being searched for (in the form ‘keywords’) on the internet and how best to spend your money on specific search terms. Photo: Sophy Newton Sophy Photo:

Page 11 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 The Economics of Growing by Hand

Steve, an American in our bed and breakfast, came out one Expenses (£) 2007 2008 morning to help me pick some leaves. He wants to be a grower, but was at that time living in London with his partner who is an Wages 6130 5660 executive for Sotheby’s. They visited one of the top growers on Building, tools 832 850 the States’ east coast to assess the economics of growing and Steve Compost 714 636 said that his partner just could not believe that this well known Petrol 160 220 grower was working so hard and so productively for an income Car capital 644 644 of around £14,000. (Actually that sounds reasonable for growing!). Office 620 390 To most of us that disparity sounds pretty familiar and shows how Seeds, plants 550 540 far apart the two systems of economics are – agriculture on the one hand and resource extraction on the other. Most of the affluent Car service 190 270 nations’ current high incomes are based on cheap oil which has Telephone 180 190 been calculated to represent billions of slaves working for almost Electricity 170 250 nothing. Clothing 170 260 But growing organic food has natural limits of production that Water 150 150 mean we can never produce tons of it without a corresponding Website 60 90 increase in effort. We have no cheap slaves, just our own muscles, TOTAL (£) 10770 10150 time and occasional mechanical input. Sales 2007 2008 Personally I have always eschewed most machines as well as Boxes 4100 4300 chemical inputs and offer here some figures of my inputs and Salad 13700 19300 outputs, to establish some idea of possible livelihood from small areas of land, using hand labour only. However, do remember that TOTAL 17800 23600 these numbers are peculiar to me and my situation, as follows. INCOME 7030 13450 Other expenses come in dribs and drabs and always add up to a Expenses higher total than one imagines. Some of the larger items include Most of my purchased labour is for harvesting and most of the repairs to a barn roof (materials only), a pallet each year of West harvesting is of salad leaves, twice weekly from March to October Riding multipurpose compost, green waste and mushroom and once weekly in winter, if not too cold. I pay £8 hourly, aiming compost, seeds which could be reduced(!), accountant’s fees, to hang on to whoever I have trained up, just one person for the servicing my lawnmower (yes I do need one petrol engine), part most part. Doing a good job of picking leaves is skilled work, as costs of running the car for deliveries and other jobs (about 1600 are many of the undervalued tasks of a grower. miles per annum) and polythene bags for salad leaves. Sales Becoming proficient at salad has clearly helped profitability. More than three quarters of income is now from bags of washed, mixed salad leaves, sold for £11-12/kg in weights of 125g, 250g and 500g, the latter for pubs and restaurants. My two small polytunnels (of 120 square metres altogether) help to maintain sales through winter, but most output is from outdoor leaves. Even in December, over half of my leaves are outdoor grown – radicchios, endives, leaf radish and mustards – and in 2008 we were harvesting some of them in a frozen state on December 17th. I was surprised at how well they thawed out overnight in the crates.

Photo: Charles Dowding Charles Photo: I have enjoyed two good years for salad, with mild winters, warm springs / autumns and damp summers. 2009 may be different Dawn at Lower Farm - June 2008

Page 12 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Photo: Charles Dowding Charles Photo: Bottom of the garden - October 2008

but I am encouraged that, after the relatively severe frosts of early January and February, there were plenty of leaves by late February, about £200 worth on February 25th from one week’s growth, all out of the tunnels and with plants picked in such a way that the same harvest is possible the following week, as long as it is not too cold.

Vegetables, like the salad, are grown on undug beds and offer me the chance to effect some rotation of plant families with my predominant salad ones. The area down to vegetables is about 2/3 acre, compared to an acre or so for salad. Double cropping of about half my beds increases the complexities of rotation.

The vegetables’ much lower income demonstrates that, were it not for the premium price of mixed salad leaves, I would be out of business by a mile. My vegetables are not sufficiently different to others available in shops and supermarkets, so I cannot charge much premium, whereas the salad leaves possess extra flavours and qualities that are often remarked upon, helping to maintain both price and demand.

Even as it is, I am subsidising my gardens with other activities, such as day courses and writing, and our family income is helped by Susie’s b&b as well as income from letting land and cottages. No need to cry for us! But it seems odd to me that a well run, productive two acres, worked over the year with about two thirds of my available time, is so marginal in contemporary economic terms. Charles Dowding (Charles’ holding in Somerset is organic, but is not certified as such. He sells his produce as ‘Compost Grown’) www.charlesdowding.co.uk

Page 13 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Crop Planning – nightmare or salvation? Many of you will have to grapple with this on an annual basis and no doubt you have all got your own ways of dealing with it. I suspect there will be a spectrum of approaches ranging from counting every last carrot and spring onion to a rather more haphazard ‘how much seed have we got left’ approach. I have no desire whatever to teach grandmothers (and grandfathers) to suck eggs but it can sometimes be useful to re-visit something that you might take for granted. As ever the editors will be more than grateful for any feedback from you, including your own tips for sharing with others.

Of course the key objective of crop planning is to provide enough move stuff round. I got through a lot of scrap paper trying one produce at the right time to satisfy the needs of your market. The thing after another and then incorporating the changes into the first place to start therefore is - what does your market need? If overall crop plan. We sold some produce locally but it was not the you are a grower of one or two key crops then the process is fairly main strand of the business. If we fast forward to the present day simple. The market wants 500 tonnes of carrots and if you know most growers working on the land area we had available (5 acres you get around 50 tonnes marketable yield in a typical year then crop, 5 acres grass/clover) will be working on some form of local you will need to drill 10 hectares. That will be 30 million seeds at marketing - often a box scheme. 3 million seeds to the hectare (allowing for field factors). Include This was the situation I had in mind when developing the table the carrot field(s) in a rotation that includes grass/clover leys, opposite. It started out as an exercise in rotation design – in general cereals and maybe potatoes then the job is done. terms more brassicas will be needed than legumes so it makes sense Few growers reading this piece will be in this position and you will to combine some of the minority groups, but which ones? It was a know that the closer to your market you are the more complicated case of going back to first principles. How many customers? What everything becomes. When I started serious growing I contacted will they want and how much? How often? This gives some idea local wholesalers to get a feel for local market demands. They said of how much of each produce type will be required. Then yield “cabbages, roots and lettuce” and I thought that was a fairly basic figures are needed in order to determine the required area and I start. My OAS advisor (we were linked with a college in Wales) have applied a 50% increase across all crops to allow for problems. thought we should demonstrate all aspects of organic vegetable This is slightly pessimistic and it can certainly be argued that some growing – oh great, I thought. He came up with 2 parallel 8 year crops are more likely to encounter problems than others. Once rotations that had everything including bells, whistles and the the area figures are decided the calculations for the seed and plant kitchen sink. We eventually compromised (not sure that’s the orders can begin – I always found the information available in some right word) on a single 12 year rotation that included 2 green seed company catalogues extremely useful in this respect. I still manure breaks and a 3 year fertility break using lucerne. have an old Samuel Yates that I refer to today.

My first introduction to the complexities of crop planning was Having obtained the areas (for 14 crops in this case) it is then working out the seed and plant orders for this rotation. Potatoes time to juggle them around to create broadly equal areas for the were reasonably straightforward (1 tonne to the acre, right?) but purposes of the rotation [see table]. In this particular case the everything else needed calculations based on how many beds in a potatoes and brassicas required their own separate blocks (no rotation block, how many rows in each bed, what spacings in and surprise there) then the minor crops conveniently grouped into between the rows, not to mention what variety and who sells it. alliums/cucurbits and roots/legumes/salad. If we factor in two Bear in mind that this was back in a time where broadly speaking years of fertility building in the form of clover or grass/clover the you could sell whatever you grew, although the advent of the grand total comes close to 1 hectare for a 50 customer box scheme producer co-ops brought some discipline into the situation. Of or 50 member CSA scheme. If we take the pessimistic field factor course there were concerns about quality at the time but I believe into account then this accords well with other estimates of the the vast majority of everything we sold was at least Class II or number of customers per hectare. better.

After this complicated start I Rotational options introduced changes to the rotation every year to streamline it, but this Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 was complicated in itself. The 4 Option A Grass/clover Grass/clover Potatoes Brassicas Alliums/ Roots/ legumes/ cucurbits salads year rule for alliums, brassicas and Option B Grass/clover Potatoes Alliums/ Grass/clover Brassicas Roots/ legumes/ potatoes often made it difficult to just cucurbits salads

Page 14 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Weekly produce requirements - could be regarded as box scheme or market stall - for 50 customers Crop block Unit size Unit customers Frequency Sales period Sales requirement No. of weeks of No. Areas allowing allowing Areas for field factors factors field for Quantity for 50 50 for Quantity Total area in ha in area Total Rotation blocks Rotation Area of rotation rotation of Area Average weekly weekly Average Total requirement Total

Potatoes 1.5kg 75kg Weekly Jul-Mar 75kg 40 3t 0.1 0.15 Potatoes 0.15 Calabrese 400g 20kg Fortnight Jul-Oct 10kg 9 180 kg 0.036 0.054 Brassicas 0.162 Cabbage 1 head 50 heads Weekly Sep-Mar 50 heads 32 1600 0.06 0.09 PSB 300g 15kg Fortnight Feb-Mar 7.5kg 4 60kg 0.012 0.018 Onions 500g 25kg Weekly Sep-Mar 25kg 32 800kg 0.04 0.06 Alliums/ 0.176 Squash 1 no. 50 no. Monthly Aug-Dec 12 no. 11 550 0.01 0.015 cucurbits Leeks 600g 30kg Fortnight Sep-Mar 15kg 16 480kg 0.04 0.06 Courgettes 500g 25kg Fortnight Jul-Oct 12.5kg 8 200kg 0.027 0.041 Carrots 450g 22.5kg Weekly Jul-Mar 22.5kg 40 900kg 0.025 0.038 Roots/ 0.157 Lettuce twin 100 heads Weekly Jul-Oct 100 heads 17 1700 0.022 0.033 (gem) pack legumes/ Beans 500g 25kg Weekly Jul-Oct 25kg 16 200kg 0.01 0.015 (various) salads Spinach 450g 22.5kg Fortnight Jul-Oct 11.25kg 8 180kg 0.02 0.03 Beetroot bunch 22.5kg Fortnight Jul-Oct 5.5kg 8 180kg 0.009 0.014 Parsnip 450g 22.5kg Fortnight Oct-Mar 11.25kg 14 315kg 0.018 0.027 Grass/clover Grass/ 0.34 clover TOTALS 0.429 0.645 0.985

A typical range These Simply unit Another This will Customer Weeks This assumes Area Realistic Potatoes and Rounding of crops though are fairly size x 50 factor that depend quantity x in the harvest needed in increase brassicas block sizes this can vary typical will vary on variety frequency as supply success ideal terms (x1.5) to clearly need to 0.17 ha to according to the but could according to choice, a fraction period (OFMH account for own blocks even it out market vary demand storage, etc. data) problems = 1ha

I genuinely started from the left hand column and reached proportion of a family’s fresh produce needs is slightly over 250 the 1 hectare total without any massaging of the figures. It is square metres or 10 rods, the area of a standard allotment. The possible to start from the right with a certain amount of land and work is not all done because some crops need to be established work back to the left to see how much produce in the different successionally so a planting/sowing calendar will be needed. categories can be grown. It is interesting to note that if you divide So after what might have been several winter evenings working all through by 50 the resulting area needed to provide a significant this stuff out you could be left with several impressive pieces of paper setting it all out. A plan! Will it all be alright now? Of course not – the only predictable thing you can say about a plan is that it will go astray probably sooner rather than later. That said it is far, far better to start with a plan than just do the equivalent of sticking your finger in the air. I’ll discuss planning for protected cropping in the next piece and also the problems of overlapping rotations. Roger Hitchings Roger is head of advisory services at the Organic Advisory Service Photo: Garden Organic Garden Photo: Diverse cropping takes careful planning

Page 15 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Field Scale Leek Production in South Devon, the co-op way!

South Devon Organic Producers Ltd (SDOP) South Devon Organic Producers Ltd is a farmers’ co-operative comprising some 13 farms and growing just under 1000 acres of organic vegetables each year. We have a single market which is a rather large box scheme based in Buckfastleigh! The farms’ individual organic vegetable production areas range from about 25 to 200 acres and most of them also have livestock and some cereals.

SDOP celebrated their 10th anniversary last July and we’re hoping to see a few more yet! The co-op owns a variety of vegetable machines including weeders, module planters, drills etc which it hires out to its members (and sometimes non-members), we also have a labour pool which allows its members to utilise experienced labour without having to worry about employing their own staff.

This is all managed from a central office by yours truly, who also does a fair amount of crop walking in order to predict yields and harvest dates (quite important for a sizeable box scheme). Leeks -can we afford to grow them? The latter two varieties have a comparatively upright growth habit and as a result I feel they are less prone to rust than the more In years like the last two, some of the farms have struggled to prostrate ones. make leeks pay. Bandit has been grown last year as the only OP variety, but didn’t Gross margin projections are calculated on a per acre basis in a perform nearly as well the F1’s. similar way as one would for cereals on a field scale. Albeit the input for an acre of leeks is some 15 or 20 times greater and if Fertility we continue the comparison the returns would be proportionately Leeks respond well to good fertility and benefit by being fairly greater. This then is the basis on which the farmer makes his early in the rotation. The best yields within the co-op are usually decision on whether to grow them or not. It implies a much higher to be found on a large dairy farm which has year-round grazing level of risk than his other non-vegetable enterprises so the returns with three out of its five year rotation in ley. The sward always must reflect this. includes copious amounts of giant white clovers. It has produced The yield aim is around 5500kg per acre to give a suitable return for the risk involved. The range has varied this year from about 2000kg to 8000kg. Of course the harvest costs are high. These do vary with yield, while all other costs have to be borne whether you have a crop to harvest or not. Soils The best yields this year were to be found in the sandier soils near the coast. In drier years these farms may experience soil moisture deficit as their limiting factor, but not in 2008. The more inland farms are generally silty-clay loams over shillet and therefore less free draining. In the extreme conditions of last year these fields, being much wetter, appeared to have suffered from decreased biological activity through lack of air and therefore reduced fertility. In “normal” years these soils are capable of producing very reasonable yields. Varieties With about 80 acres of leeks to contend with it is necessary to use Photo: Tim Deane Tim Photo: mostly F1 varieties (but not exclusively) so that each acre has a pre-planned date of harvest before the plants go in the ground. Roxton has been a good servant for the earlier production for the last ten years and this is usually followed by Flexton and Shelton.

Ian Noble in South Devon organic landscape

Page 16 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 a massive ten tonnes per acre in the best years, but it is in an area of Devon where jungles thrive naturally! Everyone else would be Leek variety trial – Garden Organic delighted with six or seven tonnes. Ryton 2008/09

We find it is very necessary to soil sample soils for leek production It is three years since Defra stopped funding NIAB and Garden because concentrating on N is not enough, they are also very Organic (HDRA) to run organic vegetable variety trials. Defra partial to P and K. did however fund a project Breeding and trialling of varieties for low input production systems (OF0375), which was led by Warwick Planting HRI, with NIAB and Garden Organic as partners. In 2007/08 An early start with leeks is essential and plant raisers are being Garden Organic carried out a desk study to identify traits of engaged from about the last week in February. A sturdy plant importance for low input vegetable production systems and to is preferable and this can be brought on, to some degree, by develop possible methods of assessing these traits to provide strimming the tops to about five or six inches, which also allows potential quantifiable targets for breeding. Leeks and lettuce for easier handling in the planting machines. were chosen as examples of inbreeding and outbreeding crops. Following on from this a field trial was carried out in 2008/09 of Most of the leek modules are planted with our bespoke Gregoire- 24 varieties, including both open pollinated and hybrid varieties Besson leek planter, which means we can place them quite deep sourced from Tamar and Tozers and breeding lines from MRL to maximise the white shank on the finished leek. However, this seeds. The trial looked at ways of assessing root growth in machine does have a fair draught and can only be used in deeper transplants and mature plants and measured waxiness of leaves, soils, so we revert to the Pelican planter when the soils are a little amongst other agronomic and quality characteristics. less deep! The planters are set on three rows at 22 inches apart within the 72 inch tractor wheelings. To some extent the trial was a victim of the poor weather conditions last summer and the decision was made to delay Up to now we have aimed at 44000 plants to the acre which allows harvest until the end of March in order to allow the leeks to grow about 4 inches between each plant in the row, with the tractor set more. This was not ideal as some of varieties were more suitable in creep gear at about 300 metres per hour (hmm, does everyone for pre-Christmas harvest. Many of the early varieties actually else mix inches and metres or is it just me?). Anyhow it takes about stood well and were the highest yielding in the trial. Four of the a day to plant an imperial acre. top five, for marketable yield, were hybrids. The best yielding Of course, module plants have the greatest initial expense of all variety was TZ 9647 L (Now named as Conway F1) from Tozers, the planting systems, but savings can be made through reduced which stood well until March with high proportion of large need for weeding. We have direct drilled some leeks for the past leeks, though starting to bolt. Shelton F1 was the highest yielding two or three years, which brings our flame-weeder into action, but organic variety, closely followed by Roxton F1. Longbow (Tozers have not really seen much financial advantage over the modules. non-organic) was the highest yielding OP. Hannibal, which has dropped off the National List, though seed stocks are being sold, Weeding was the highest yielding organic OP variety. It is now going to A variety of methods are employed to maintain a fairly weed-free be maintained by the Heritage Seed Library at Garden Organic. leek bed, often beginning with stale seed bed systems. Once the There were no stand-out performers against rust or thrips, leeks are planted the aim is to use the Einbock at about six to ten though there were differences in susceptibility. Please bear in days. This operation has its advantages and disadvantages, it may mind these are results from one site and one season only. For a pull a percentage of module plants out (although some farmers full write-up of the trials please go to: try to avoid this by previously rolling them in) and certainly has a www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicveg/news/story.php?id=1796 damaging effect on leaf material so that growth may be checked a little. However, the more of these operations the less weed growth in the intra-row spaces, resulting in less hand weeding, and this the farmers feel to be desirable!

As the leeks grow the other mechanical weeding operations are called into play, including scuffling the inter-row and pushing soil towards the plants. The plants end up sitting in a ridge, which buries new weed seedlings within the planted row. Alternatively a Bartchi brush hoe system may be employed, with discs attached and set at an angle with the intention of creating that ridge (anything to cut down hand weeding). More thought is being given to under-sowing the leeks at this point with some of the Photo: Phil Sumption/Garden Organic Sumption/Garden Phil Photo: shorter stemmed clover varieties.

Shelton F1

Page 17 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Pests and diseases Our leeks do not seem to suffer any rots like White tip, but Rust can constitute a quality issue. This, as mentioned, can be minimised by variety choice and for the most part can be trimmed out, although you can end up with leeks that look like they should be sold at Marks and Spencers!

In a warm June, especially on the lighter soils, the work of Agrotis segetum can oft be seen, otherwise known as a cutworm (caterpillar of the turnip moth). A crop walk in the morning can reveal a long row of very neatly felled leeks. Their feeding habit, usually at night, is either just below or on the surface of the soil, chewing on the stems of the plants. However, they do need dry conditions to survive over winter as pupae, so hopefully their numbers will be low for a year or two.

We have noticed that wireworm are partial to a few leeks when there’s nothing else to eat [or even when there is – ed.], so caution Photo: Mike Westrip Mike Photo: is needed if considering planting into pastures which are coming out of long leys.

Thrips and leek moths are apparent pests in larger production areas, but we have not seen these as yet on any of our farms. Harvest timing However much planning we put into the leeks, the weather is the deciding factor. The last two years has seen the farmers holding on to the crop for as long as possible in order to increase the yield so as to achieve a positive gross margin. This causes two difficulties, firstly in creating a glut in the market at the back end of the season, which in turn creates downward pressure on the price and secondly, a quality issue as the earlier planned leeks reach the end of their maturity and begin to bolt.

The field workers can pick an average of 25 kg per hour, producing a finished leek in the field. We pay these guys by the hour and I dare say we could increase the productivity rate by paying piece rate, but the quality would suffer. Summary We find that leeks are not the easiest crop to maintain financial viability, but as with all other crops attention to detail can pay dividends. Here we find them useful in the rotation, because brassicas generally put us under the greatest space pressure from the customer demand point of view. Photo: Phil Sumption (urged on by James Clapp) James by on (urged Sumption Phil Photo: Their long season is a great asset in keeping our labour force in work, they look good in the veg boxes, they taste wonderful, and AGM caption competition! they can be grown virtually anywhere in the UK. What more Suggestions for captions for the above photos, on a postcard could an organic grower want from a vegetable crop? to OG Towers. . . or email the editors. We might even think of prizes . . . Ian Noble. As well as managing SDOP Ian grows 7 acres of vegetables on his own holding [email protected] in Cornwall. [email protected]

Page 18 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Weed profile – Common Chickweed Other names ( chickenwort, craches, maruns, winterweed ) Latin name: Stellaria media L. (Alsine media)

All growers will be only too familiar with common chickweed uncharacteristically from ‘man-flu’ but as I grasped at handfuls of (hereafter referred to as chickweed), for this annual or over- lush green chickweed, unable to tell where one plant ended and wintering native plant is one of the commonest weeds of cultivated another began, let alone differentiate it from the spindly crop, I land in the UK. In the ADAS Pest and Disease Incidence Report found myself virtually reduced to tears. Now I knew where Tim for the harvest year 2008 chickweed was reported as the most was coming from… troublesome weed in all organic crops, but particularly in onion and leeks. For most of us it is a constant, that will always appear to Habit and habitat reclaim any bare earth, should we give it the opportunity. I have Chickweed is widely distributed over all soil types but is more always had a decent respect for this weed and been prepared to abundant on lighter soils. It is favoured by high potassium levels share my plot with it, recognising the benefits that weed presence and is indicative of high nitrogen and low phosphate and lime and ground cover can give, but never considered it a huge problem. levels. The colour and health of your chickweed can be a good A fellow traveller but not as aggressive or difficult to deal with as indicator of the fertility of your soil. On farms that we (Garden some. Tim Deane, however, described hoeing off broad masses Organic/HDRA) monitored through conversion, chickweed often of chickweed ‘as about the most dispiriting job of the lot,’ which appeared yellow and sickly in the first year or two of vegetable shows that growers can have different perspectives on weeds. I’d cropping. It is absent from the most acidic soils. It thrives in previously reserved that level of opprobrium for couch, creeping areas of soil disturbance and declines when cultivation ceases for thistle and gallant soldier. That attitude of benign coexistence with a long period. More power to the no-dig boys! It is sensitive to chickweed changed recently when weeding my late February drought and is one of the first weeds to wilt in dry conditions. sown carrots in the tunnel. I’d not kept on top of the trefoil Chickweed grows best in cool, humid conditions and is a serious undersown in my climbing French beans last summer (probably problem in over-wintered vegetable and flower bulb crops. It is editing this journal…) and both the trefoil and chickweed had moderately competitive and approximately 25 weed seedlings/ set seed. I returned from holiday this March (possibly another m2 will result in a 5% crop yield loss, according to Rothamsted mistake, in grower terms!) to find a mass of weed choking the research. (Compared to the most competitive weed, cleavers at rows of carrots. Admittedly I was under the weather, suffering 1.7seedlings/m2, and the least - field pansy at 250 seedlings/m2.).

Chickweed can be very variable in size, habit and general appearance. Some of this may have a genetic basis and some may be due to soil and environmental effects. Summer and winter forms with different growth habits are thought to occur.

Chickweed is a host of several damaging virus diseases of crop plants, including cucumber mosaic virus, tomato spotted wilt virus, tobacco rattle virus. Some viruses can be carried in chickweed seeds that will grow into infected plants. Cucumber mosaic virus can persist for at least 5 months in seeds buried in soil. Several important nematode species, including the trichodorus species that transmit tobacco rattle virus, can also infest chickweed.

If your chickweed has got out of hand you can console yourself that it is an important constituent in the diet of many farmland birds. It also has medicinal and therapeutic uses, is rich in vitamin C and may be eaten as a salad vegetable, a fact I point out if anyone complains at a stray bit of chickweed in my salad bags! It can, however accumulate nitrate and may become toxic to stock, though unlikely in an organic situation. In addition, it has a relatively high oxalic acid content and a low level of calcium that may have an adverse effect on dietary calcium bioavailability.

Page 19 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 What makes it so successful? in cereal, grass, clover and other crop seeds. It remains a problem in home-saved cereal seed. The scary thing about chickweed is that it can flower and set seed Chaffinches eat chickweed seeds readily. But it is not easily all through the year, it has even been known to flower and ripen destroyed! A small number of seeds can survive passage through seed under a snow-cover 10-20 cm deep! Flowers are normally the digestive system of small birds and germinate in their self-pollinated but there is a short period when insects can effect droppings. Viable seeds are also found in cattle, deer, horse and cross-pollination. In winter, flowers are produced that do not pig manures and in worm cast soil. open, making self-pollination inevitable. Stems cut off in flower do not produce viable seed but any green immature capsules Management present will ripen and the seeds within them can become capable of germination. Hence, while you might think your chickweed is In cool wet conditions, chickweed comes into its own, forming a posing no danger, it is actually reproducing as if by subterfuge! dense mat of spreading stems that may root at the nodes making Individual seed capsules contain around 10 seeds and the average it really difficult to hoe or pull up. As well as strangling plants seed number per plant is 2,200 to 2,700. However, plants with it can also strangle the hoe, by wrapping itself around the shank 25,000 seeds have been recorded! Chickweed can complete its life or head, so that you are constantly having to stop and shake or cycle in as little as 5-6 weeks, so if you turn your back, it can take pull it off. A poorly rooted brassica can by easily uprooted along over the holding. with the weed. Hoed plants will root again in moist soil. Complete burial is the most effective treatment. In row crops, control is by Seeds will germinate at any time of year but particularly in spring repeated surface tillage in hot, dry weather (wishful thinking?). and autumn. Germination can occur between 2°C and 30°C but the In cereals, increasing the sowing rate and reducing the row width optimum temperature is 15°C. Seed collected from separate plant help to suppress chickweed growth. Spring-tine harrowing populations may differ in size and germination characteristics. in July is said to give good control of the weed. After harvest, Some seeds can germinate immediately after shedding. Buried stubble cultivations can give good control of freshly shed seed. seeds develop a light requirement for germination. In the field, The soil should be worked to a depth of 5 cm at 14-day intervals. seedling emergence declines with increasing depth of seed burial. Chickweed often emerges in winter when it can be destroyed by Most seedlings emerge from the surface 30 mm of soil, seedlings subsequent ploughing. from seeds buried deeper in the soil take longer to emerge. Chickweed is able to grow at relatively low temperatures and Mowing is not effective with this procumbent plant and may seedlings can survive all but the severest frosts. help the weed by removing the shading effect of taller species. On newly sown leys grazing by sheep may to help to suppress Persistence and Spread common chickweed. It is grazed by many wild and domestic animals. Geese are said to eat chickweed selectively in certain Buried seeds are known to retain viability for at least 25 and crops. probably over 40 years. Seed buried in soil for 10 years gave up to 22% germination. Seeds in dry storage for 30 months at low A layer of compost or cover crop residue spread over the soil temperatures retained full viability. Chickweed seeds broadcast will reduce chickweed emergence. Leachate from composted onto the surface of clay and silty-loam soils, ploughed to 20 household waste inhibits seed germination. There are indications cm or flexible tine cultivated to 10-15 cm and followed over a 6 that shallowly incorporating chopped straw after cereal harvest year period of cropping with winter or spring wheat declined reduces seedling emergence. This may be due to the release of at an annual rate of 35%. The estimated time to 95% decline was 7-8 years depending on the frequency of cultivation, echoing the phrase ‘one years seeding, seven years weeding’. In a series of autumn-sown crops the time to 99% decline of seed in the soil seedbank was 11.1 years. The mean annual decline rate was 30%. In other studies in cultivated soil the annual percent decline was 41%. Elsewhere, under a grass sward, chickweed seed had a mean annual decline rate of 26%.

The seed capsule splits when mature and the seeds are shaken out onto the soil beneath the parent plant. The seed is dispersed further in mud on footwear and tyres. Ants also carry seeds away

and seed has been recovered from irrigation water Sumption Phil Photo: . . . Chickweed seed was a common contaminant Cotesbach chickweed

Page 20 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 toxins as the straw decomposes. Seedling numbers increase, however, following applications of organic manure.

There has been a lot of work on fallowing to reduce chickweed numbers, but fallowing is a negative and very expensive (energy, time, loss of cropping area and nutrients) way of dealing with annual weeds which ought to be controllable in other ways. Seed numbers in soil were reduced by 85% following a 1 year fallow and by almost 90% if this was extended to 2 years, by which time you would surely be in severe debt! The land was ploughed, disked and harrowed during each fallow each year. Weed numbers were reduced but to a lesser extent by cropping with winter wheat for the same period and carrying out normal control measures. Fallowing at 5-year intervals over a 15-year period did not reduce seed numbers in soil further because during the intervening cropped years the weed was able to ripen seed during cropping, after harvest and before ploughing took place. Seed that remained dormant in the soil during the fallow period allowed the weed to survive through to the next crop year and increase again. Even a 4-year fallow did not eliminate all the chickweed seeds in the soil. So perhaps a 2-year grass-clover ley, preferably grazed would be a better option.

Chickweed seedlings with 2-6 leaves are relatively susceptible to flame weeding (see flame weeding article p22) and the seeds are killed by soil solarization. Seedlings are very sensitive to UV-B radiation.

The seeds of chickweed are consumed by several species of ground beetle, so creating beetle banks or areas of longer tussocky grass will help. The fungus Peronospora media may be an important Elsoms Seeds agent in the natural control of common chickweed. the start of better crops As with any weed, tolerance to it will vary amongst growers and it is not all bad. In addition to the food value for birds and insects it can perform useful functions on the farm. Chickweed will • Quality organic seed for professional cover the ground quickly and can be an effective green manure, protecting soil structure and preventing nutrient leaching when growers. the soil is bare. A carpet of chickweed will also help deter cabbage root fly and other pests from finding the host-plant (crop), • Field vegetables and salad crops. using Stan Finch and Rosemary Collier’s theory of appropriate/ inappropriate landings. Just be sure to prevent it seeding as much • Independent UK seedhouse as you can, unless you are confident of dealing with it effectively For details of our range of seeds see our at seedling stage. website www.elsoms.com and see our Phil Sumption new organic catalogue. Please contact us if you require a hard copy. Adapted from the review of Common Chickweed on the Garden Organic (HDRA) organic weed management website www.organicweeds.org.uk Spalding, Lincolnshire PE11 1QG Telephone 01775 715000 Fax 01775 715001 www.elsoms.com e-mail [email protected]

Page 21 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Flaming weeds

Flame weeding, more accurately – thermal weed control, destroys weed without any alteration to the soil (disturbance or light exclusion). In this way it has a passing resemblance to chemical weed control. That and its obvious and even dramatic consumption of energy means that it stands apart from the run of organic horticultural techniques. There is also the aspect of playing with fire, which some people find off-putting. Those of us who do flame our weeds, on the other hand, find it so effective and so liberating of labour that we wonder how we could manage without it.

The method Flaming the land To flame weeds is not to burn them to a crisp. Weeds can appear We were lucky here at Northwood to be in temporary possession little altered by the passing flame, but so long as the internal of a prototype pedestrian flamer, which was made up by the temperature of the plant is raised to 100°C for a tenth of a second Organic Growers Association in the early 1980s, when its original its cellular structure is sufficiently damaged that it will keel over keeper gave up growing (and reclaimed its baby-carrier frame). and give up the ghost within 24 hours of the treatment. The Nobody else seemed interested in it and we’ve kept and used it plant’s response can be roughly assessed by lightly pressing a ever since. Calculating that in flaming an acre of parsnips I walked leaf between thumb and forefinger – if a dark green spot appears very nearly 10 miles I might have graduated to a tractor mounted enough cells have been damaged to kill the plant. To be effective at model but, giving up wholesaling for boxes and growing smaller a reasonable work rate and with a degree of energy consumption areas of more crops, the knapsack version has remained adequate. not in excess of other control methods the weeds must be small, Apart from advantages of adaptability to small and medium size the closer to emergence the better. Garden flamers have been areas and the natural limit that carrying a gas bottle imposes on advertised as a handy means of controlling perennial weeds in gas consumption, the hand flamer allows a close appreciation of paths and drives. There should be a law against this sort of thing. the effects of flaming. It consists of an old (our oldest child is now It would be cheaper and probably quicker to stab the weeds at 31) Mothercare baby-carrier which neatly holds a 3.9 kg propane regular intervals with a metal instrument. bottle. A length of armoured hose leads from the regulator to a lance 4 ft. long made up of steel pipe with a wooden sleeve handle Thermal weed control extends to areas such as the application of and a tap at the hose end, and a nozzle and conical burner at the steam to the soil, but the only two methods allowed by standards other. The burner has a diameter of I ¾ in. at the nozzle and 2 ¾ and of practical interest to growers both make use of LPG burners. in. at the open end, and its length is 3 in. The lance is cranked 8 The most widely used is direct flaming, where the target plants in. above the burner so that when you carry it straight in front of come into actual contact with flames directed on to the soil from burners mounted about 5 to 6 in. above the soil surface. In the second method, infrared thermal weeding, the flames are directed back over an enclosed metal or ceramic plate which is heated to 1000° C. In this case control is achieved through heat radiated downwards. Studies suggest that the direct flame has a greater effect. Some operators favour infrared weeders which may have advantages in ease of use, particularly on wider acreages. Both sorts are readily available from suppliers, but if you are thinking of making up your own flame-weeder then for simplicity of design and assembly the direct flame will be your choice. I am not going to examine the technicalities of flamer construction – The Organic Grower is hopeful that someone better qualified will come forward with an article explaining how a flame weeder can be made on the holding. Photo: Tim Deane Tim Photo:

Page 22 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 you the flame is directed perpendicularly at the ground. Holding the lance across your body the burner can be directed forward at an angle of about 45°. This is sometimes claimed to be the best angle of approach, though I cannot say that I have noticed any difference in effect.

Remembering to turn on the tap on top of the bottle before hoisting the knapsack on your shoulders gas supply is then controlled by the tap on the lance. You light the flame with the lance on the ground and the least trickle of gas possible. In use the gas supply can be turned up to somewhat below the point at which the force of gas blows out the flame. Walking at a steady pace, about 2 to 2 ½ mph, while holding the burner a few inches above the soil surface the force of the flame strikes the ground and spreads out, intensely but momentarily heating the surface air over a width of about 6 ins. In bright conditions the flame is invisible – you just have its roar by which to judge its force. Under cloud or at dusk you get a clearer idea of the area affected. On dry ground the draught is quite sufficient to dislodge soil particles, in which case eye protection is a good idea. The rapid flow of gas and the phenomenon of heat exchange leads to icing of the gas supply. Depending on how full the gas cylinder is the flow will be so reduced after (give or take) thirty minutes that you have to pause to allow time for thawing, or you can swap cylinders. Commercially available flamers will generally have some means of mitigating this effect.

This is all the basics of flaming itself. Mounted flamers with a bank of nozzles will obviously do very much more work at once, and each burner may cover a wider spread, depending on burner design and gas pressure, but forward speed will not exceed a slow walk. It may be less than this, again depending on flamer design but also according to weather conditions and the age of the weeds to be treated.

Applications Deane Tim Photo:s In the early days of flaming the focus was on weed control pre- crop emergence, that is flaming-off germinated weed seedlings before the crop breaks the surface. This blanket treatment remains the most effective and most utilised application. Post- emergent flaming within the crop is also practised, most usually SDOP Hoaf infrared flamer showing one panel raised. This in turn shows the burners (vertical line) which direct the flames over the metal heat pad. The chains with monocotyledonous plants (e.g. onions, leeks, maize) where (right) hang down when in work to retain heat/prevent draughts. the growing point has protection which is lacking in broad-leaf plants. With care this can be done at most growth stages once the With aspirations limited by the need to carry a heavy and plant is an inch or two high. Some collateral damage is caused but eventually frigid gas bottle around my approach is to only this will soon be made good and any effect on eventual yield or flame the area of ground adjacent to the line of the crop, where maturity is more than offset by the reduction of weed competition. weed control is most valuable and least easy to achieve by other Utilising the heat resistance of mature stems it is possible to methods. In short – I seek to avoid as much close quarter hoeing flame selectively within established broad leaf crops, for instance and hand-weeding as possible. This accords with responsible gas tomatoes from 8 weeks old and brassicas about three weeks after use. Where weed pressure is light I may just flame the drill, killing transplanting. With shields and deflectors flaming within more the weed within 2 to 3 ins. on either side. Usually I make three heat-susceptible crops becomes possible. Whether these latter passes. On wide rows (2 by 30 ins. on 60 ins. wheel centres) this methods are justifiable is another matter, my opinion being that leaves an area where vigorous mechanical disturbance can take if another, non-flame, method is practicable and adequate to the care of unflamed weeds. With 15 ins. rows remaining weeds can purpose – use it. be quickly struck out with one pass of a mounted or wheel hoe.

Page 23 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 On narrower rows – for instance with herbs, salads and leek presence of surface moisture increased its kill rate by intensifying seedlings in polytunnels – where weed pressure is high and/or the heat on the leaf. a particular hindrance to crop growth and harvesting – I tend Timing, as ever, is all. In order for flaming to be properly effective to flame the whole area. This blanket flaming is easily achieved it is crucial that ground is prepared beforehand and the crop sown outdoors with a mounted flamer, but the operator should always into a stale seed bed so that the first flush of weeds has emerged by question how much needs to be taken care of with gas and what the time flaming takes place. A fortnight will usually be sufficient. can be left to diesel or muscle power. Leaving it much longer in a slow-germinating crop risks the earliest germinating of the weeds becoming too mature to be killed. In the Susceptibility and case of quick-germinating subjects (e.g. beetroot, brassicas, peas) weed should be visible at drilling. If brassicas are to be covered effectiveness against flea beetle they should be flamed immediately after As indicated above monocot’s, and in weed terms this means drilling and then covered right away. grasses, are poorly controlled by flaming. Within it seems days There is an element of brinkmanship in pre-emergent flaming. of emergence annual meadow grass will survive normal heat Two treatments before the crop appears will always give the application while perennial grasses (like couch/stroyle) will best control, but the ideal is to flame once only and as close to simply blink and carry on. So too with perennial broadleaf weeds, emergence as possible. Gauging the correct time to flame may which rapidly grow back from the reserves in their unscathed be helped by placing a sheet of glass over a section of the drilled roots. Annual weeds will also survive flaming once they are well seed. In theory the localised extra warming of the soil will ensure established. In their young stage they show a range of susceptibility earlier germination, giving advance notice of the rest of the crop’s to heat. Resistance to heat damage is strongest in plants that have emergence. I find it more reliable to probe the drills to gauge how thick, waxy and/or downy leaves and stout stems. A perhaps close the seed is to breaking the surface. Keeping records of the surprising example with these attributes and which is strongly dates of previous emergence helps you take a considered view resistant at seedling stage is borage. I like to have a bit of this of the relevant timescale. One grower I knew used to wait until about the place for the pleasure it brings me and the bees. It seeds he saw the first seeds come up and then flame the lot. I felt that itself freely. Most of the resulting seedlings survive flaming, but besides leaving no margin for hold-ups this policy could destroy are easily dealt with in other ways. Common arable weeds on a the best and most vigorous of the crop plants. However if weed scale of susceptibility range from chickweed and fat hen (very is heavy and flaming has been delayed it may well be worthwhile easily killed) via shepherds purse and dead nettle (moderately sacrificing the earliest germinating proportion of the crop for the susceptible) to mayweed and speedwell (highly resistant). Some sake of saving the rest from excessive labour spent on weeding of even the easily killed subjects will (more or less mysteriously) later on, or even from loss due to competition. survive, and whatever you do more will germinate subsequently. The use of flaming here at Northwood altered our annual weed Needless to say the weather is a live factor in assessing when to populations from almost entirely chickweed to a more interesting flame. Pedestrian models allow flaming in ground conditions that mix with a much higher incidence of the other weeds mentioned would be unsuitable for tractor-mounted equipment, but even (and groundsel and sowthistle). Chickweed can still be locally so you do not want to be treading the ground in excessively wet dominant in a wet season but is not the threat it was. Fat hen is conditions. On the heavier soils continuous rain soon after drilling readily killed by the act of flaming but due to its late-germinating can mean that the opportunity for flaming is lost altogether. abilities is always with us. At normal operating pressure and Forward planning that allows for a decent stale seedbed will help speed few weeds will be killed once they have reached six leaf you to avoid this situation. Conversely lack of rainfall can make stage. Top growth may be destroyed but regrowth will occur from flaming ineffective – there being no point in doing it if few or no the root system. weeds have appeared. This is frustrating if you know that the weeds are there and will make themselves known once it does rain. It is sometimes suggested that irrigation will serve instead of Factors for success rainfall. My experience is that it does not really do so, unless a wet spell is anyway imminent. Whatever mechanism (or intelligence?) A crucial factor in the success of flaming is that the weeds should it is that causes weed seeds to germinate they are not often fooled be at seedling stage. A calm day is ideal - with direct flamers by simply applying water to the ground. especially wind will dissipate the applied heat, meaning that more must be applied or effectiveness reduced. Standard advice At its best flaming will leave you with a newly emerged crop that is that the leaf surfaces should be dry, so that heat is not used up from a distance looks like a clean green line painted on a strip of in first removing this moisture. This seems to make sense but, as bare soil. Hand weeding and hoeing can be much reduced and with all matters relating to horticulture, other opinions can be may be avoided altogether. held and should be accorded some validity. I was recently told by the experienced operator of an infrared flamer that he felt the

Page 24 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Objections to flaming to the creation of blank spaces at ground surface. Some growers may feel that flaming equipment is best kept The most obvious of these is energy use. The Organic Grower has well away from plastic tunnels, but this is where I find flaming looked at this subject in general terms before (see OG 2 and 4) and particularly valuable for winter herbs and salads. These are Jenny Hall and Iain Tolhurst’s Growing Green has a useful and planted at high density, are easily overwhelmed by weeds and are referenced chapter on environmental accounting. This helps you fiddly enough to harvest even without a weed burden. Growing to assess the true costs off flaming and compare it to mechanised conditions allow weeds to flourish throughout the winter, and to alternatives. Quoted gas consumption figures for a given area really get going in the new year, while simultaneously making range widely up to 40 or more kg/ha (16 kg/acre) but this will their control quite difficult. Plastic does burn, after a fashion, but vary according to stage of weed growth and weather conditions it is not highly inflammable. Frustration with the unflamed strip at the time. Adopting a partial flaming approach, i.e. leaving the that I used to leave between the outside rows and the tunnel cover inter-row for other means of control, can reduce this consumption has led me over the years to cautiously advance my flaming. I find by half. I would reckon on about 10 to 12 kg/acre for parsnips now that I can kill chickweed (at least) right up to the cover. The and carrots, and one 3.9 kg propane bottle should be sufficient to plastic can safely be allowed to pucker slightly. It will return to its blanket flame three 60 by 18 feet tunnels. My feeling, admittedly previous state as it cools and suffers no evident weakening. But not backed up by proper research, is that considered flaming will don’t take my word for it – try it for yourself! not use more energy than alternative means of achieving adequate weed control. Tim Deane

Flame weeding is an unrestricted practice in organic agriculture, except within the Vegan Organic Network’s Stockfree- Organic standards. These are concerned by the indiscriminate nature of the technique (which is certainly reduced in the case of a pedestrian model) and cite effects on insects, small mammals, toads and reptiles. This would be an issue if flaming an established crop (or desiccating potato haulm) but when pre-emerge flaming the ground conditions are not far off a desert. Before the crop, or weed, canopy is established even insects will not be present in numbers and larger creatures will be totally absent. The chances of inadvertently flaming a toad ought to be vanishingly small. Last summer though, I am ashamed to say I did just that. Getting to the end of a row I kicked a Home-assembled flame-weeder working in NIAB carrot trial at Ryton coiled hose out of the way and flamed the white strands of weeds then revealed, not noticing that a toad, cunningly coloured to match the damp brown soil, was lurking beneath it. Fortunately toads are more or less indestructible and this one showed no ill effects.

There may be fears that the soil will be warmed to the extent that microlife is damaged. However the area of soil warmed is confined to the very surface – research showing that the temperature is raised by 4° C at 5 mm and only 1.2° C at 10 mm – and this surface layer is in any case unstable and not well populated with micro- organisms. It is sometimes held that such soil warming as occurs can lead to a further flush of weeds, but the mechanism here is more likely to be nature’s abhorrence of a vacuum and the Organic Garden Photos: Little and large LPG flame weeders on SA weed kit demo day at Riverford opportunistic ability of weed seeds to respond

Page 25 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Pastures new, fingers crossed In February of 2008 Mike Westrip and family made the very hard decision to leave Penpont and after many years of working for other people, start up on their own. We asked Mike to tell the story so far.

Last February myself and my partner Alice, along with our daughters Rose and Ruby, began renting and converting four acres of marginal land in the Welsh Marches.

In the most general of terms there aren’t many advantages in us trying (I use that word advisedly) to grow vegetables at 800ft. As the seas further reclaim what is rightly (or wrongly) theirs in years to come there may be a few more, I guess only time will tell. For now though, for us landlocked hillbillies, there is one big one. Curlews. There can be few sounds that do what their trill does to the heart, bringing hope, joy and humility in equal measure. Our first arrived on the 21st of February. They will slip away back to the coast when our minds are full of summer distraction and we will realise that we haven’t heard one for a while.

Last year’s mixture of yet more abysmal weather and freshly Photo:Mike Westrip Photo:Mike ploughed, over-grazed and under-nourished acidic pasture We (all) survive of course and lets face it, true hardship is, in reality, provided all the challenges you would expect. In a strange way still many miles away. Spouting bad weather statistics always it was useful having both as excuses, although difficult to be sure seems a little boastful, so for the more informal record - we had of which was most to blame for such poor results. Still, we rode plenty of bloody hard frosts and plenty of snow. The fields were the wave on the surfboard of adrenalin and enthusiasm associated drier in February and March than all of last year (and remain so). with all things new and we made it to the beach. Now we are beginning to paddle back out and this time the waves look a lot bigger, our board somewhat smaller, but at least we are going Germination and back out for another try and lots of positives (growing aside) to establishment carry with us. So we step somewhat more gingerly into the second growing We then endured one of the truest winters for sometime. Only the season of our slightly less new venture. Being that little bit further caravan-dwelling growing fraternity could understand the relief down the line we have (tried) to refine our art a little, systems felt when water once more gushes out of taps, and curtains open seem to need time to evolve (dare I say, organically) rather than be without being stuck to the windows, seemingly made of cardboard. unveiled to huge fanfares (at least that’s my excuse). My old garden shed is now our germination room. We then transfer into the intensive care unit (bubble wrapped section of polytunnel with propane heater) and gradually harden off from there. This is far from perfect but when all you have to start with is a field then this is one giant leap. I’m sure this all sounds very familiar and those of you now in the groove of establishment may have forgotten these early days rather like parents forget the ceaseless nappy changes. The temperatures we are providing are probably still a bit low, but we have to manage the cost implications (gas is around £1 a kilo). We can keep things alive at least while the nights remain dangerous and, thanks to some colleagues near by, we have our tomatoes and peppers being looked after in four star accommodation rather than our meagre two. I still feel very conscious of all this oil we’re having to put into raising a few plants though. Photo:Mike Westrip Photo:Mike

Page 26 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Whilst on the subject of questionable inputs, this year we have used Fertile Fibre as our growing medium for the first time and . . . so far it is not looking too bad at growing stuff (mostly in 77’s), but we will have to reserve full judgement until the end of the year. As our system grows up we will be trying to leave all that behind too.

Clouds on the horizon Probably our biggest “cloud “ for this new season is the level to which the wireworm will continue to plague us, as according to some, the problem can be worse in the second year. We did try a patch of Caliente mustard on an acre, but even that failed miserably

thanks to (we think) seed simply rotting. One observation was Westrip Photo:Mike that our pretty sturdy brassica modules seemed to stick attack around 20 bags of the same mix per week to a couple of collection better than our very small bareroot leeks. So one strategy is to points four miles away. We can add the words “in conversion” to ensure we have good strong transplants to go out....we are doing our own produce this year but . . . let’s not go there . So we are both as bare root this year, but managing to get them sown at the small, microscopic in fact, but that’s probably no bad place to be right time so they should make better plants. All the other crops just now. If we are able to actually grow more produce this year seem to achieve a good size in the 77 module. Some unintentional (which we fundamentally must do) then we will need to spread bastard fallowing may have helped a bit too. Thanks (again) to our marketing wings, but there are already some options out the weather I was prevented from establishing hardly any green there, currently at least. manures and, as a consequence, have been able to rip through We have also begun to build in some CSA elements and have with spring tines more regularly which may bring some up for the started running courses, all of which involve people from at birds. Other hugely technical strategies include “crossing fingers” most eight miles from here. Newsletters go out quarterly and we and “trying not to think about it too much.” have another open day planned (about 100-120 people last year). Our only soil amendment so far has been lime and we have used Adam, Rollie and Sean have started to come and work with us for the granulated form for both applications. Although it is three a day each every week in return for whatever produce we might times the cost of ground limestone it is, allegedly, at least three be able to offer them and the odd bit of “know how. “ I have to times as effective and actually ends up on your ground rather than say it has been a wonderfully liberating experience working with your neighbour’s. We will check soon to see if we have moved people without money in (either) mind and all without a single up from 5.7 and 6.0 which were our initial readings in each field, funding application . . . they just found us. hopefully we might not need anymore. Half of our “big “ field (one hectare) is now down to a humus-building ley which appears High hopes to be establishing itself pretty well. Generally both the fields look and smell better than last year, even the very heavy parts have I’m sure you will agree that climatically this season has begun succumbed to the intense frosts. It’s easy to complain about poor very differently to last, with better light and temperatures already, summers, perhaps less so about poor winters. We miss these spells and I’ve also noticed loads more bees flying than during all of last of cold as much as we need the sun on our backs. year. Everyone you speak to has high hopes for the summer ahead, probably for fear of being lynched if bleak predictions are made, but a third one of the same sort might just be too awful to envisage. The old dilemma So things do generally feel different this year. Plants we have put With such a young enterprise it’s hard to give any accurate into the ground appear to be growing for one thing. I’m not sure reflection in terms of sales. We didn’t exist the previous year that we felt that much at all last year. Spring always gives you so there is nothing to compare with. Last summer we started that chance to see it all in front of you, and all we need is a chance. selling our produce at the weekly market and found a small but For us we also have our “default” button, the curlew. Round here enthusiastic audience and sold everything we grew. We then they’re also known as “storm birds” as they are rumoured to fly decided that, rather than stopping and restarting, we could up before a weather front passes. Last year we were hearing them continue the stall with bought in (UK only) organic to underpin all the time, this year . . . much less. our own ever decreasing range of winter crops, and we seem to Mike Westrip be holding steady. There is quite a perverse pleasure in explaining to someone why we are not selling tomatoes in February - most people seem to get it though. As well as the stall we also drop

Page 27 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Growing fruit trees on their own roots I first came across the concept of fruit trees grown on their own roots while working at Yalding Organic Gardens in Kent. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend time working with a plant breeder there called Hugh Ermen. Hugh had worked for many years at Brogdale Horticultural Experimental Station and although now officially retired he is still actively breeding new varieties from his back garden (including well known breeds such as Scrumptious, Red Devil, Winter Gem and Limelight).

The bulk of the information in this article is based on Hugh’s Higher fertility work and ideas, though my very limited experience in this area has encouraged me to follow up on his theories. I am also grateful Hugh also noticed that, given adequate pollination, trees on to Phil Corbett of “Cool Temperate” for further information, as their own roots gave better fruit set and had more seeds, which well as clarification and development of Hugh’s ideas – and for indicates increased fertility. It is highly likely that the degree of supplying some of the ‘own root stock’ (ORS) trees that are now self-fertility is also increased. in my garden. Graft incompatability So why graft? Before working with Hugh at Yalding I was familiar with grafting So given all these advantages what are we all doing growing grafted techniques and the range of commercial rootstocks available, so I trees? Of course, there are very good reasons why grafting is so took it for granted that this was the best way of doing things – why popular and the advantages it provides are – (in particular) limiting else would the system have evolved? However, like all organic the size of the tree and facilitating its management and enabling growers, I suppose I have a tendency to question the status quo propagation of a plant that doesn’t take from stem cuttings. and Hugh’s experience certainly made me look at traditional orchard systems in a new way.

It is well known that ‘graft incompatibility’ exists. This is the degree to which the rootstock and scion fail to fully unite, in a similar way that sometime a human transplant may be rejected. In most cases the visible results are little more than a swelling at the graft union but some varieties and rootstocks exhibit greater symptoms than others.

Could this incompatibility also be having an effect on the overall health of tree and even the fruit? Hugh started an experimental orchard at Brogdale (now sadly grubbed up) to see how trees responded to growing on their own roots and discovered that it

appeared to give a number of advantages. So what are the key Raskin Ben Photo: benefits? Red Devil 4 year old espaliered A healthier tree Vigour On the issue of vigour, we all know that growing trees on a While not altering susceptibility of certain varieties to specific commercial rootstock of known vigour means that all the trees diseases, ORS trees do generally appear more able to deal with will grow to a similar size, although even on the same rootstocks stress or low disease levels. varieties respond and grow a little differently. Although most ORS trees are not hugely vigorous you have to grow each one to Quality find out what size it will get to, and many will be too vigorous to suit some modern orchard systems. For example, the typical While fruit development and size appeared to be typical of the size of spur-type ORS tree is similar to a tree on M9 (2–3m tall), variety, trees on their own roots seemed to give the best possible non-spur types are typically between M26 and MM106 in vigour flavour, storage life and overall fruit quality. and a few vigorous triploids result in trees between MM106 and MM111.

Page 28 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Management Propagation Hugh has experimented with a number of systems for controlling The question of propagation for ORS trees is slightly trickier. There the vigour of trees. He recommends using some or all of the are a number of ways, although all of them are more expensive following techniques, although the best way is to induce early and than grafting – which is another potential barrier to this system. regular cropping which diverts the tree’s energy: The easiest way is to take root cuttings but this involves digging up the tree, and there is a limit to amount of root produced each year that can be used for propagation material.

Alternatively you can use a ‘nursery’ graft. This involves grafting your desired variety onto a weak rootstock. Once it has taken, plant the tree with the graft union below the level of the soil. The scion should then root and, because it is stronger than the rootstock, it will take over and the weaker rootstock will die. Nevertheless, this approach tends to delay the propagation process by a year, making it more expensive.

Looking to the future The current system of grafted stock appears to have developed • Withholding nitrogen (which stimulates growth) and more for the convenience of the nurseryman – and to minimise irrigation (except in serious drought) production and pruning costs – rather than any real consideration for the overall health and vigour of the tree. And the continued • Tying down 1 and 2 year old branches to the horizontal. This reliance of mainstream food production systems on chemical induces fruit bud formation solutions – and I include the ‘organic’ coppers and sulphurs – • Summer pruning (which induces fruit buds) and avoiding has provided little incentive to look at alternatives that challenge winter pruning (which stimulates regrowth). this basic system. As we are increasingly in need of minimum • Various training forms which help to induce fruit bud – for input systems, could growing trees on their own rootstocks be a instance growing on a tripod (seebelow). potential solution? For more information on Hugh’s work and managing own-root trees: www. Another slightly more radical solution might be to look at a orangepippin.com/articles/own-roots.aspx coppicing system. Apples fruit mainly on two and three year-old To buy own-root trees wood and traditional pruning systems rely on trying to maintain www.cooltemperate.co.uk a balance of renewal and fruiting material. If you coppice or stool your trees on, say, a four or five year cycle you would always have Ben Raskin a proportion of trees with older wood which should bear fruit. Ben now works in the Soil Association Food and Farming department where he is responsible for horticultural development You will, of course, lose production in the first (and maybe the second) year but overall yields may be the same. The simplicity of the pruning system would also save on labour costs.

Such an approach might particularly suit a permaculture or agro forestry approach. By cultivating the strips in between the rows PHPS Certified (Elite) you are presented with a range of growing conditions for different ORGANIC STRAWBERRY PLANTS crops, with sunny airy spaces between the freshly stooled rows Honeoye (early season), and cooler or semi-shaded conditions between the oldest rows. Pegasus, Hapil, Cambridge Favourite (mid season),

While this system is unlikely to suit fruit growers who need to Alice, Symphony, Florence, Sophie. (late season) produce even quantities year-on-year for a supermarket or box All top quality plants, grown in healthy isolation. scheme customers, it may provide a much simpler and cost Large range of organic raspberry canes, black/red/ white currant effective system for those with more flexible outlets, as well as bushes, gooseberry bushes and Jostaberry bushes will be available juicers and cider makers. again in the autumn/winter. WELSH FRUIT STOCKS, BRYNGWYN, KINGTON, HEREFORD HR5 3QZ

Tel/Fax 01497 851209 www.welshfruitstocks.co.uk

Page 29 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Postcard from Korea

One of the things that most struck me in Gwangju, the provincial consists of cutting the capital of Jeolla in the southern part of the Republic of Korea (that’s scallions back to the South Korea to you and me) were the vegetables everywhere - tiny crown approximately plots of impeccably tended plants growing on just about every four weeks after piece of waste or unoccupied ground in the city. I asked my hosts transplanting and then cutting the regrowth every 4 - 6 weeks after about them - but they were so obviously used to the sight that they that. Small scallions or those unfit for harvest are left on the soil couldn’t understand why I found these random rows of oriental in the pathways between the mulch where they will decompose. greens and scallions at all remarkable. It appears that everyone in Gwangju is a gardener and as the majority of the population live in the high rise flats which march in serried ranks for street after narrow street, these tidy mini allotments provide an opportunity to grow a little veg for the table (or restaurant or corner grocery). I never did find out whether these plots were owned, rented or squatted, temporary or permanent - but they were a pleasure to behold.

South Korea is a small country that feels like a big one. There are wide, flat valleys with big skies where vegetable production is concentrated on the fertile river silts. On the horizon are the mountains - humpy, bumpy ranges covered with forest - and the

sea is never far away. You can probably travel from one end of the Deane Jan Photo: country to the other in a day, pounding up one of the motorways The plants are left in the ground for 5 years, after which the plastic that criss-cross the country, but at least I was permitted to travel in will be lifted and the ground reworked and another crop grown. a more leisurely fashion in Jeolla - from organic vegetable holding There is no fertility building phase and no green manures - but to organic rice paddy, from forest organic mushroom production strangely no evidence of disease either. Perhaps the answer to that to organic tea plantation. lay in the wide variety of inputs set out for my inspection and all approved for use in organic agriculture by the Korean authorities. There must have been about twenty proprietary products for disease control and the operator also made up fertility and pest and disease control products himself from seaweed, apricots and several other natural substances. Fertility was largely provided by commercially composted animal dung pellets.

Forest farming For something completely different, I travelled high in the Photo: Jan Deane Jan Photo: mountains to visit a group of forest farmers producing organic Like many places round the world, organic production in Korea P’yogo mushrooms - about 7 tons/year of them. These mushrooms is now defined by government regulation - but its foundation are a premium variety similar in nature to shiitake and they is different to the principles that form the basis of European command a high market price in both fresh and dried form. The organic production. What we would consider the basis of organic mushroom spawn is inoculated into oak logs 4 - 5 foot in length agriculture, the notion of a self sustaining and nurturing soil, at a spacing of 7 x 20 cm. I was surrounded by thousands of such doesn’t seem to fit into the Korean tradition. I visited an organic logs stacked in forest clearings both outside and in polytunnels protected cropping grower who was producing scallions in leaning against special rails put up for that purpose. The first several uniformly sized multispans - each span about 9 x 50m. and harvest is about 12 to 18 months later (12 months if grown in the usually four or five spans wide. Fans set into either end provided tunnels covered with shade netting, 18 months if kept outside ventilation. These tunnels (and there were 1.7 ha of them) were under pine trees). The frequency of harvesting is dependent on the completely filled with scallions and nothing else! This operator atmospheric temperature (3 to 4 days if the temperature is between propagates his own seedlings and then plants them through 12° to 18° C) and harvesting from an inoculated log will continue plastic mulch at approximately 24 x 24 cm spacings. Harvesting

Page 30 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 building phase and with all nutrients supplied by commercial inputs.

The farmers I met were great - they were enthusiastic about organic agriculture as they understood it and eager to show me their holdings. But for me, it just reinforced the importance of having and supporting an international standard, such as the IFOAM standard (or even the EU regulation) where organic agriculture is firmly based on sound ecological principles. In Korea, there is still some way to go. Jan Deane. Jan is programme manager for the IOAS, which accredits certification organisations to IFOAM and other standards. Photo: Jan Deane Jan Photo: for 5 to 6 years. It is important to keep the ground free of weeds as the humid atmosphere they foster encourages fungal growth of the wrong sort, which can affect the yield. Such unwanted fungi are rubbed off by hand while any insects found on the logs are also dispatched manually. The main harvesting period for the year was over and would soon stop altogether for the winter to resume in the spring. During the winter the mushroom producers will cut replacement logs, shred spent logs to be sold as mulch and generally tidy up. The system is sustainable as the oak trees are coppiced rather than felled, resulting in natural regeneration in about 20 years. Photo: Jan Deane Jan Photo: It’s organic farming Jim..... It is a common practice among organic farmers in South Korea to use chitin dissolving fungi as a pesticide – chitin being the material which constitutes the hard exo-skeleton of insects. The farmers usually buy the fungal inoculants and grow the culture on the farm, it then being applied in the field. The media for growing the fungal culture contains urea as it enhances the growth of the Changing of the guard at Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul. culture and traces of urea remain in the final product - a highly soluble bonus for Korean organic farmers and all approved in the regulation. No, it’s not organic farming as we know it, but it’s kosher in Korea.

Of the many biological controls used for pest and disease management, by far the most novel to me was the golden apple snail used for weed control in rice paddies. These snails are bred in special ponds on farm and then released into the paddy where they attach themselves to the stiff rice stalks and feed on the more succulent weeds. The timing of releasing these snails into the paddy is critical - too early and they will eat the rice, too late and the weed stalks will be too tough. A typical “rotation” is rice followed by barley (after draining the paddies) with no fertility Photos: Jan Deane Jan Photos:

Page 31 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 From HDRA to Garden Organic- the last 25 years (1984-2009) In the Autumn 2008 (No 6) edition of the Organic Grower, Philip Conford told the story of Lawrence Hills’ vision for HDRA from the early days and its implementation at Bocking from 1958 up to the transfer to Ryton in the mid-1980s. In the second part of this story, David Gibbon, who has had many years involvement as a member and research partner, reflects on the importance of the Hills’ legacy in the development of this unique organisation and how we might all gain some valuable lessons from the experience. Introduction the energy and enthusiasm of the core staff: Alan and Jackie Gear, Sue Stickland, Pauline Pears and Bob Sherman. All were later Lawrence Hills’ influence was still strong in the establishing years involved in the Channel 4 “All Muck and Magic” TV programmes at Ryton, but he adopted an increasingly modest role as the core (3 series). These were perhaps some of the positive influences on staff and the trustees took on more responsibility for the shaping the public perception of the value of growing food organically. and emergence of major themes in the growing ambitions of the They may also have had an influence on the increasing numbers organisation. However, Lawrence established some important of visitors to Ryton (24,000 in 1996 and peaked at 33,000 in 2005) “red threads” which still underpin some of the work of the and the increasing membership (7000 in 1977 to 30,000 in 2009). organisation and which are useful to reflect upon now. These The educational role of the organisation and its place among the include: a strong and growing membership which provides a base main organic actors and institutions in the UK, grew considerably for finance, knowledge and a research capability, concerns about during the ‘80s and ‘90s and established the organisation as a national and international health issues, advice to, and tips from, major player to whom many gardeners and growers looked for members and an appreciation of the contribution of all the staff in advice and learning. the development of the organisation. A consistent and significant theme since the start of the association The success of the Association following the move to Ryton, can has been the role of research, both by HDRA members and from be attributed to a number of factors which came together and the organisation’s staff in association with many partners in the coincided with the growing national concern about food quality UK and internationally. and the growing confidence in organic systems of farming and household food production. One key element was undoubtedly Gardens : for demonstration, research and education The wish to acquire land in accessible places was a key driver in the search for a suitable site in the Midlands and the acquisition of Ryton Gardens. Subsequent developments at Audley End (Essex) and Yalding (Kent) were to bring in additional variety of location and opportunities.

At Ryton, the area has evolved in a very interesting manner over the whole period. The initial design has allowed a continuing growth of new ideas and themes, which still fit together to create a fascinating and exciting garden in which people of all ages can explore and learn over time. The latest addition, a biodynamic garden, fits well into the overall philosophy of constantly seeking to innovate and stimulate both the public and members, with ideas that they might not have initially considered and with good practice. The sizes of the individual units as well as the activities within are appropriate, as many visitors can relate them to the size of their own plot or garden and to the range of situations that they themselves face.

Overall, the garden presents an important showcase, which maintains an attractive environment for visitors both from UK and overseas, from urban as well as rural areas. It is important that Photos: Garden Organic Garden Photos: Left to right:Pauline Pears, Sue Stickland, Alan Gear, Bob Sherman & Jackie Gear

Page 32 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 An early aerial photo of the Ryton site Garden Organic Ryton, today the area remains really attractive, not just for gardeners but also very popular throughout the period, with between 6 and 10 trials for children who may become gardeners. Perhaps more could run every year. Some are regular themes such as the use of comfrey be done to stimulate and occupy this group of young would-be and slug control, others examine the potential for new or novel crops gardeners outside, in the same way the Vegetable Kingdom does which might be of greater interest as climate change has a greater inside. impact. The results of the trials are written up in the Organic Way and are also archived on the website. It seems important that people who attend conferences at the Centre (particularly farmers who are often not the world’s most An area of 6 acres at the Ryton site has been intensively and enthusiastic gardeners) are given the opportunity to explore the imaginatively used for field trials on a variety of themes: vegetable gardens in order to stimulate their ideas and interest. crop management, soil fertility management, pest and disease control, companion planting, land preparation and many others. The role and function of the gardens remains problematic as it These experiments complement the members trials and other trials might seem to some that they are not as “productive” as other which are held nationally across many sites on research stations elements in the organisational mix, nor do they generate the (e.g. vegetable variety trials) and on farms. In the early years same income as other activities. However, they remain vitally of research, major contributions were made by undergraduates, important educational resources and bases for innovatory masters and PhD students from associated universities who spent gardening techniques. They are inextricably linked to the whole part of their field work in the research field or laboratories at visitor experience of garden, café and shop which is such a vital Ryton or in the field sites of the Drought Defeaters project. combination for many hundreds of day visitors. The other members’ contributions to ongoing knowledge are their Research letters (reproduced in the Newsletter and the Organic Way), which Having a core research base within the organisation was an abiding relate techniques and experiences with novel methods of pest and passion of Lawrence’s. Not only was he a constant source of ideas disease control, fertility management and composting. Over time for research (initially based on comfrey, but rapidly expanded to this has all added up to a very substantial body of knowledge. many other areas including the idea of drought defeating plants). Although the results of the trials and experiences are regularly He created a structure which had both members’ research and core recorded in the newsletter and on the website, (and YouTube), the research driven by the organisation staff, combined with funded story of this process and the outputs from these experiences are research with partners in universities and research institutions both worth a further publication at some time in the future. at home and abroad. Research driven and conducted by HDRA members was an outstanding, pioneering, contribution to the development of participatory research in the UK and was unique within research organisations when it started. This approach has evolved and been established overseas in Asia and Africa for many years before it became more widely accepted in the UK. Even now, there are those who are highly sceptical about its value (there were some former council members who claimed that this research was “unscientific” and therefore of low value), but the examination of alternatives and options that address key problems of growers in a simple way and then replicated many (sometimes hundreds of) times across the UK and in Europe is an immensely powerful tool that is still undervalued. Members’ experiments have remained NIAB day - viewing carrot trials in the research field

Page 33 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Research in the UK and in the rest of Europe, primarily instigated This experience highlights the vulnerability of this organisation to by HDRA staff and partner institutions and their staff, has fashions and “norms” in funding streams for research and points developed very significantly over the past 20 years as organic to the need to be constantly looking for financial support from farming and organic food have been recognised by the general different and novel sources of revenue generation. The problem research establishment and their primary funding bodies. The is not unique to HDRA/Garden organic as these changes have appointment of Dr Margi Lennartsson in 1987 was a key step in affected much of applied agricultural and horticultural research the consolidation, strengthening and expansion of research. Her in the UK for many years. presence, together with that of many other widely experienced research staff, led to a continuing stream of innovatory research programmes. A more strategic approach to research was developed resulting in the consolidation of partnerships with important institutions (such as HRI Wellesbourne – now part of the University of Warwick) and joint project proposals with other organic institutions such as the Organic Research Centre, Elm Farm. Important funding agencies such as Defra have become more actively involved in supporting organic research, for example, HDRA/Garden Organic was involved in 20 DEFRA funded project between 1995 and 2009 (together with partner organisations) to the value of £4.1M. The topics covered ranged from: pest and disease management, farm conversion to Nick Pasiecznik demonstrating pruning prosopis organic systems, soil fertility management, economics of top fruit production, market studies, participatory management of weeds Early in the history of the organisation, Lawrence showed a very in organic systems and support of the organic vegetable systems keen concern for the livelihoods of people from dry areas of Africa network. and the possibility of developing species of perennial plants that The support for participatory methods in the weed management were well adapted to long periods of drought. This resulted in the project and the parallel support for cereal variety testing in a project Drought Defeaters project which was supported by partnerships run by Elm Farm, was an innovation for Defra. This raised some with Dr Phil Harris of Coventry University and his network of expectations that such methods might be seen as complementary contacts in other research institutions in the UK and across the to more conventional research approaches in the future. However, world’s dry regions. The main focus of this work was the tree, this optimism was short lived, despite great enthusiasm from the Prosopis juliflora, in work in collaboration with sites in Cape 150 participating farmers, and at the end of the 5 year programme, Verde, but other tree species adapted to drought prone and arid Defra not only did not continue support for this kind of research, lands areas have also been studied, seeds collected, trialled and but did support a more conventional “problem solving” approach distributed to other areas and to organisations in need of new based on formal experiments. This might be considered to be a options. backward step by many, but with Defra’s background of rapidly This work has continued for many years under the International changing personnel and a decline in resources allocated to organic Development Programme of HDRA, which has diversified and research, it is not surprising. developed activities in many countries and with many different partners. The work has been steered for some time by Dr Julia Wright who, together with a small team and a roster of organic consultants and partners, has developed a programme of research and consultancy, information and advice, training and capacity building and awareness-raising through the Overseas Organic Support Group in the UK. The overseas programme has often been undervalued by some people in the UK who sometimes fail to understand the potential synergies between the work of parallel organisations overseas and the work in the UK. Much can be learned that is highly relevant for our own future survival from the understanding of complex agroforestry farm and gardening systems that are found in all other continents of the world. Linkages with active groups in many countries, such as Ghana, Kenya, India and Cuba, are providing an developing learning

Growers discuss weed management at Holme Lacy College as part of HDRA’s base that justifies continued support for this programme, which is Organic Weed Management project also linked to over 2000 organic groups worldwide.

Page 34 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 The maintenance of vegetable seed The Buildings Programme diversity When an organisation starts from very modest beginnings it is An early concern of the HDRA team was the erosion of the perhaps inevitable that along with visible success and wide and country’s vegetable genetic resource base as both private and growing support better facilities become desirable and indeed public sector institutions in the UK, and later the EU, strove to necessary. Such improvements have been needed for the hosting of simplify the seeds market. This entailed a focus on seed varieties conferences and meetings, to demonstrate and display educational that suited large-scale horticultural production and the needs of the materials, to house and distribute valuable seed stocks, to develop supermarkets which were increasingly geared towards uniform suitable catering and shopping facilities and finally to house staff (in appearance) products with longer shelf lives. These trends and visiting partners and researchers in comfortable offices. It affected the organic seed varieties that remained on “approved also became obvious, early in the period of expansion, that there lists” and sounded alarm bells when many older varieties were was a need to separate the charitable from commercial activities in dropped from these lists. order to protect the charitable status of the organisation.

As a result a “Seed Savers” campaign was launched in 1978 with Over the past 25 years, largely through the particular vision the establishment of the seed library. Again, members (Seed and commitment of Alan and Jackie Gear and the Council, the Guardians) were called upon to help maintain this growing organisation has managed to complete all these “basic needs” collection by sowing a range of seeds on a regular basis on their through a combination of the use of patronage and the generation own plots. The importance of this, which may not be widely of grants, loans, bequests and fees. The result is that Ryton now realised, is that many vegetable seeds have only a short period has the physical resources and facilities to carry out its mandate when they remain viable and thus need to be grown on a regular effectively. However, this period of growth and access to capital basis to be maintained. The Heritage Seed Library has been coincided with a period when the whole economy was relatively responsible for saving many threatened species and varieties over buoyant. We are now faced with a very different economic climate a 30 year period and has made a major contribution to plant and together with changing priorities in external support for education, variety diversity. This is, not only evident as genetic biodiversity, advice, research and development which results in changing but also in the diversity of colour and taste that is offered to revenue streams and a major challenge for the organisation. growers and consumers, particularly young ones. Campaigns and Issues. Once again, HDRA members have been vital for the success of this Lawrence Hills always was at the forefront of any national and activity and they are now active as ever, contributing their own international issue that could directly affect the human food chain varieties, often selected and passed on through generations of a and human health or the retention of a valuable resource. He was family, to a “swap shop” exchange scheme. very active in highlighting many issues, including the effects of pesticides on health, the fallout from the Chernobyl disaster, a “Dig for Victory” response to the first Oil Crisis in 1973/4, poverty alleviation in African arid lands, opposition to straw burning, the health giving benefits of comfrey, the maintenance of indigenous seeds and varieties, reviving household allotments and the necessity for a ban on PCBs and CFCs.

This spirit was continued by Alan Gear who contributed to the “save Brogdale” campaign and also to the GMO trials debate - an action which threatened the very existence of Ryton. Many of these themes remain topical (Myles Bremner has invoked a new Dig for Victory campaign and the organisation is addressing the potential of organic gardening to deliver food security and sustainability objectives) and it remains important that it has a strong voice in influencing policy makers and planners. The passing of the Hills, changing the name, and new directions. On 14th November 1989, Lawrence’s life long partner, Cherry, died and Lawrence followed a year later, on September 20th 1990. It is of note that Lawrence was awarded an honorary Doctorate degree by Coventry Polytechnic (now University) early in 1990 as

Page 35 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 a tribute to his outstanding contribution to the organic movement. He remained very active to the end and had completed the first Lessons from this 25 year experience part of his autobiography “Fighting like the Flowers” in 1989. and for the future

Alan (Chief Executive) and Jackie (Executive Director) Gear It is perhaps presumptuous to single out a number of key lessons then led the organisation, together with the Trustees, until 2003 from the last 25 years in this short review. However, my experience when they retired. With the departure of the Gears after 30 years in many different educational and research institutions, several of with the organisation, a new Director, Dr Susan Kay Williams which are considered to be open, learning organisations, leads me took over and was immediately faced with the need to focus on to make some modest comments and suggestions for debate. income generation as a priority. In 2005, the organisation changed The organisation has some unique qualities and strengths its primary name to Garden Organic but retained HDRA as its including a very impressive, active and loyal membership and a legal name and, until recently, the name under which research very diverse portfolio of activities. It is well respected both within activities were recognised. The change of name was not received and outside the organic movement. with universal acclaim, particularly by farmers who had been The achievements and outputs of the organisation: contributions associated with the organisation for many years. Lord Kitchener to knowledge through books, articles, conference papers, bulletins (retiring president in 2008) also regretted that the word research and videos, policies, techniques, engagements with a wide public, had been dropped from the title. and campaigns, are immense and need greater publicity and The change did herald a renewed focus on household food accessibility by even wider audiences. production and the development of learning to grow and cook The connections between the key actors who are engaged in fresh food locally in schools and through community supported research activity : home growers, small and large farmers, grower food production programmes. The website became a major groups overseas, advisors, social and natural science researchers, repository of the work of the organisation and developed general wholesalers, retailers, consumers and funding agencies have been access and specific access for members. Some might question evident throughout the life of the organisation and have sustained this differential accessibility in this age of freedom of information, it for all this time. particularly as a primary aim is to entice “non believers” to come into the organic growing world. A very significant amount of The importance of organic food in the diet of this nation, published material is now available through this website and particularly for children, has never been greater. The work of there are also some very innovative elements. For example, during Garden Organic therefore, remains a vital part of the organic the weeds management research project, 60 farmers agreed to “tell movement’s overall contribution to improving the nation’s health. their stories” on the site. The organisation is well positioned to combine its expertise in In the most recent change at the top, Myles Bremner has become vegetable production, soft and top fruit (and nut?) growing in Chief Executive and the Council has been strengthened through furthering the development of agroforestry systems in both the appointment of key newcomers including the President, temperate and tropical environments. This theme could make Professor Tim Lang. The organisation is currently undergoing a major contribution to alternate, more sustainable farming/ some more restructuring in a bid to meet the current challenges gardening/livelihood systems as we look for ways of coping with of the national and international economy and so as to continue to climate change and a world without constant supplies of cheap oil. keep Garden Organic relevant to today’s needs and, perhaps more Within the organisation there is a strong case for engaging all importantly, to future needs. There is an encouraging emphasis the key stakeholders: Council, professional staff, members and on more strategic thinking, while at the same time the retention of representatives of partner organisations, in an active and open many essential, practical and applied elements that have sustained critical reflective debate on future direction, strategy and focus. the organisation for 50 years. The very rapid expansion of new commitments through the 1980s and 90s raised some very basic questions about the use, maintenance and sustainability of the new infrastructure. The question that these kind of changes pose is - how does the association respond constructively to the passions and enthusiasms of its core leadership and at the same time build a sustainable, learning organisation which can still remain faithful to the principles and vision of its founder ?

David Gibbon, Church Stretton ,Shropshire David is a researcher, trainer and consultant in agriculture and rural development who has had many years experience in Africa, Asia and Europe working with small scale farmers on the development of more sustainable farm and livelihood systems. Left to right: Jackie Gear,Cherry and Lawrence Hills, Alan Gear

Page 36 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Self portrait - Fenella’s Garden

We’re based near Lincoln on a rented farm with 3 acres, but more decided to sell the house, give up the secure jobs with Suma Foods on offer if we want them. We only moved to this holding last and go live in a caravan so I could get my hands dirty all the time. summer, so we’re just discovering the various foibles of land The original plan was to grow organic cut flowers, but somewhere (sandy and hungry), pests and weather. We grow here on a small along the line I got suckered into growing veg too, and before you scale with no-dig narrow beds, concentrating on high value fiddly know it you’re working all hours trying to run a market garden crops that benefit from a short supply chain (i.e. pick it in the and a box scheme, and the flowers are a bit of an afterthought. morning, in the customer’s fridge by evening). So here we are. The last two or three months have been deadly, the We don’t have a farm shop as our landlords wouldn’t allow it (they eighteen months before that were rubbish on lesser scale, partly have their own just around the corner); nor do we do farmers’ due to having all our crops destroyed by flooding in June 2007, markets as they are dominated by two much larger veg growers, but also due to the recession (which I think has been creeping and for the last two years we’ve had barely anything to sell thanks up on us since autumn 2007). However the last couple of weeks to floods in 07 and moving in May last year (doh!). have started to look more positive, with spring getting people interested in fresh produce, and our promotional work appearing Instead we do home delivery with an online shop. We’ve to pay off. We would like our local food delivery arm to grow diversified the range to include local meat, dairy , cakes and to the point where we can create a fulltime, rewarding job for gardening kit. We promote the website via leaflet drops , word of someone to manage it, and we can get on with what we set out to mouth, paid advertising and via events like food fairs etc. We’ve do, i.e. me growing cut flowers, and Chris cooking ‘ready’ meals started contributed editorial as well as paid advertising for a local and cakes for the customers. Oh and paying ourselves more than high-end freesheet, which seems to be more effective than just £10 a week each would be nice too, as well as the odd holiday . . advertising; and we have a IT guy making sure our website has a . well we can dream. good presence on Google in return for produce. Fenella Lewin,

Fenella’s Garden, Doddington, Lincs.

www.fenellasgarden.co.uk

Fenella has shown the lead – now it’s up to the rest of you! We’d like to feature a grower self-portrait regularly. Volunteers - please contact the editors for simple guidance.

So how did I get here? When I was 15 I bought a remaindered book about organic gardening and was hooked! I was already growing a few veg at home so I started growing it ‘organically’. Me and my mum were on benefits at the time and plotless, so we took on an allotment and organic growing fitted my teenage fanaticism and our complete lack of cash for sprays and Growmore. I almost went to horticultural college at 18 but my mother persuaded me to go to uni instead, so I went off to Bradford and had a great time, but didn’t do any gardening (except the indoor illegal kind!).

Anyway after a while I found myself in an ex council house in rural West Yorkshire, and say what you like about council houses they have Big Gardens. So being too lazy to mow the lawn (and too mean to buy a lawn mower) I started growing veg again. And loved it, but Chris wanted a cottage garden to sit in, not a dig for victory garden. So I got an allotment, then another one, then Photo: Phil Sumption Phil Photo: Rhubarb in flower

Page 37 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Dear OG Letters The editorial in The Organic Grower no.7 got me thinking again about the principles and practice of organic food and farming, and Dear OG, the potential conflicts and compromises between the two. I would I have just finished reading the latest journal consider myself an organic purist and am a follower of Howard/ cover to cover. Seldom do I find so much Balfour/McCarrison literature. I completely empathise with the to identify with and enjoy under one cover. points made about organic processed food - should we even have Great job. I am so pleased with my new organic white sugar and white flour (Lady Eve would be outraged), associate membership. Where have I been? The small and local food let alone ready-meals? But we are in the 21st century and all points theme coupled with organic growing principles resonates totally. of view are relative to the period in which they are held; bearing However I feel a need to respond to a sentence on page 25. “We were this in mind, a few points came to me. Firstly, we are a long way told that, when consulted, the WFA’s response had been that they from the nutritional organic ideal and that is something that must always felt the SA should be doing it.” I didn’t hear about the Open be redressed by the movement and by certification. But it must Gate 2 proposal until after the conference referred to in the article. also be recognised that we live in a fast-moving and demanding I certainly wasn’t “consulted.” I have never been “consulted” by society - a very different one from the 1940’s. Is it better to offer the Soil Association about anything. The WFA’s Open Gate policy time-strapped people an organic ready-meal instead of a non- was explained in a paper Phil Chandler and I wrote called “Local organic one, for instance? This is a tricky question - my purist side Symbol Systems: Local Food – Local Label” published in the USA says “no”, but my realistic side says “yes”. in 2003 *. I presented the paper there as a poster display. A couple On the issue of organic textiles, I firmly believe organic of years ago I sent a copy to Patrick Holden. clothes should be available. Non-organic cotton production is Over the years, I have talked to many employees of the Soil horrendously damaging to people and ecosystems and an organic Association about lots of things. I attended the Local Food alternative is absolutely right. Skincare products? Theoretically Conference in the autumn of 1999 at the Green and Away Conference I believe they should be certified, though I agree there is a big Centre and have been promoting wholesome and organic food issue on price and perception as luxury items. Wood, cotton, principles since. My problem with organic certification has always wool, essential oils – whilst they’re not edible, all are essentially been primarily that it is too expensive and thus disenfranchises the agricultural products and can be produced either sustainably or smallholder. EU certification thus favours the already big. As never unsustainably. before, we need to see local, grass-roots growth with the demise of What we should be more concerned about than nutritional unnecessary free-trade bureaucracy. content is the embodied energy of organic food. For instance, I In a recent survey initiated by the WFA, thirty three producers am personally disgusted that air-freighted organic produce is still responded. This represents about 30% of the affiliated producers. being certified as organic by the Soil Association - and I objected 87% indicated an interest in being certified organic if the conditions strongly in the consultation. The word “consultation” was, and price was favourable. 87% also favoured the concept of frankly, a misnomer (it turns out). farmers inspecting other farmers with a Participative Guarantee Organic heated glasshouse production is largely unsustainable System (PGS), which is supported by IFOAM. The WFA has unless using renewable energy. Then, looking at greenhouse gas joined with Nature et Progres in France in efforts to encourage emissions from animals, it is clear that the meat and dairy rich diet IFOAM to introduce a motion to the EC to change the organic prevalent in Western cultures is highly unsustainable. Food miles regulation allowing some form of PGS that favours the small and are but a very small part of the equation relating to greenhouse local. I believe this is the way forward for the WFA and would gases from food production. In a world facing both enormous like to see the Soil Association pursue this vigorously. So what we issues with climate change and a future with forthcoming energy need is a “local organic” certification scheme. shortages, the challenges can be summed up concisely. We have When the Open Gate 2 pilot program is completed and I am able to move to methods of supplying food to people that minimise to see the final plan, I will be happy to comment. However, I am both fossil fuel usage and greenhouse gas emissions. At the same certain that there is a great interest and desire on the part of many time the food must be of high nutritional quality, the landscape smallholders and small farmers to “go organic” if they could just enhanced and biodiversity increased. afford it. Let’s think broad and keep an eye on the big picture, but remember Sky McCain, Director - Wholesome Food Association that global problems require many small, local solutions. *Ecolabels and the greening of the food market Jonathan Smith, Isles of Scilly. Proceedings of a Conference, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts November 7-9, 2002

Page 38 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Dear OG We have also made strong links with the local CSA and we have chosen to collaboratively grow carrot and onion crops and to co- Following the excellent and thought provoking ORC conference in operate in other ways. Again - we are linking with a community January several thoughts and words resonated with me – the idea project that promotes the strong increase in the number of people of a principled market, the pitfalls of ‘quasi organic’ production, growing in their own gardens or allotments. We encourage visits whether a ‘free market’ is really viable when applied to food and, to our open days at the farm and have volunteer days when perhaps most of all, Lawrence Woodward’s assertion of the need anyone can come out and work with us and at the same time see for clarity. what we do. We give them a good lunch and make it a social After such an event the old cogs in the mind start whirring around event. (at a slow pace in my case) and after a while they reach a place I feel very strongly that rather than fighting an uphill battle on our where a distinction is made and there is a degree of clarity. Colette own to engage people with local and organic production it is far Haynes’ questioning of the ‘market place’ and ‘local’ hit the spot more effective and satisfying to work with others. We probably for me. Everyone is using the term ‘local’, sound enough in itself all have different viewpoints, but at root we all share the same - but such a hazy word that it leads to a lack of clarity. As for ‘the vision of a sustainable, local food system. market place’ - the first time I really began to question society’s belief in the supremacy of the market was after a talk by Carlo Martyn Bragg, Shillingford Organics. Petrini, founder of Slow Food. When describing how flying in red peppers from Holland was putting the local Italian producers out of business, he boomed across the hall of 300 people. ‘THIS IS BLOODY MADNESS’ (but in Italian!)

A shopper in a supermarket can choose the cheapest chicken or the shiniest carrot. However this person is totally disconnected from where their food comes from and can have no idea of the implications of their decisions on the production systems and producers. Lack of clarity opens up the opportunity for ‘quasi -local’ retailers and food outlets, and for quasi you could read

‘lacking integrity’ or ‘inauthentic’. They can buy in chemically Sumption Phil Photo: farmed produce, present it on nice wooden shelves with bits of straw around and sell it as being ‘local’. Bemused by this the consumer, who may wish to support principled local production, TAMAR ORGANICS ends up buying into bullshit.

Surely the two things organic producers have within their grasp are clarity and integrity - clarity in the method of production, because organic standards have been developed over years and • Organic Seed Specialists are clearly defined; integrity, because the organic production system is based on the integrity of natural cycles. Clarity and • Over 500 Organic Varieties, Traditional and integrity should be strong foundations for any movement or Modern. principled business, but are obviously not enough as we seem to • Vegetables, Herbs & Flowers be losing market. Perhaps what is missing is pushing what we stand for and engaging with the public to really get the organic • Onion sets, Garlic, Seed Potatoes, Soft &Top message across, although many producers do a fantastic job of Fruit. both as well as promoting themselves. At Shillingford Organics • Independent family owned company we have chosen to be far more proactive in promoting the organic • Secure Website for professional growers principles and what we stand for to the general public. • Organic Growers since 1994 In Exeter we are fortunate in having a very active and dynamic Transition Town movement with meetings regularly attended www.tamarorganicspro.co.uk by up to 200 people. In a very short time it has achieved a highly Tel: 01579 371087 respected status, and is consulted by the local councils on all aspects Fax: 01579 371087 of sustainability. A food group has been set up within that, food Tamar Organics, Cartha Martha Farm, supply being a key issue. Naturally this group has great affinity Rezare, Launceston, PL15 9NX with local organic growers and great potential to pursue the issues which restrict the growth and success of growers like us. Sow Organic Grow Organic

Page 39 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Fieldnotes and Equipment for compact tractors Is anyone using a compact tractor for medium scale (couple of Queries acres) field crops? We have cultivation equipment suitable for our 35hp compact but trying to find suitable planting or weeding What Power Harrow? Is the number of equipment is proving tricky. The wheel spacing can be altered blades important? to suit 1.2m equipment but this would be cumbersome in the glasshouse. Suggestions welcomed (although we may have I am desperate for an opinion on the suitability of the Kuhn started chopping and welding some rusty old stuff up already!) HRB202, with a machine already ordered on the understanding Peter Dollimore, Hankham Organics that the low number of blades was more than compensated for by the 3-speed gearbox allowing up to 468rpm rotor speed. However, it appears the dealer made a mistake and this 2-metre, Grow Your Own 14-blade machine does not have a 3-speed gearbox but has a maximum rotor speed of 253rpm. With a packer roller, will it On the 21st March we held our first free ‘Grow Your Own’ event. For produce a good enough seed-bed for sowing salad crop seeds??? customers only, this could be construed as a foot shooting exercise. I have heard that many Italian-made machines are made of lower- However a 3 hour session on rotation design and green manure quality steel and so the Kuhn is more robust by comparison - it use seemed to have most of them suitably baffled and I was light- is certainly the heaviest. Just how important is rotor speed and heartedly accused of craftily trying to put them off the whole idea. the number of blades when selecting a power harrow and what There were three main benefits from our perspective. Firstly we all other factors apart from soil conditions should be considered? want to see more food being grown as close to where it is consumed Provided a packer roller is used, is little else significant (apart and as sustainably as possible. Well that’s all very altruistic but from soil conditions of course)? there’s got to be something in it for us too? So, secondly, all Robin - NamaYasai LLP eleven attendees had a glimpse at the craft of organic growing as opposed to chemical-free gardening. A taste of the complexities We have a Kuhn Hr251 with 16 points (2.5m wide) and a heavy and production imperatives seemed to bolster not only their packer roller. It is more than capable of getting the results that we support but the sense of shared purpose between producer and ask of it in field conditions (more difficult than in a tunnel). There is consumer which is so important to the future of what we do. no multispeed gearbox but there no problem in altering rotor speed Thirdly (the truth comes out) we got them all working for the with the tractor providing the tractor is slightly over powered, morning and got over half of 1.5 acres of glasshouse weeded! At i.e. capable of working at sufficient depth at less than maximum such an important time when the weeds are flowering and we are engine speed. I find depth to be the main component of getting the so busy, this was no paltry achievement. The general consensus correct tilth – if you need very high rotor speeds I would suggest was that they had received more than they had given, especially either you have a soil problem (too much or too little moisture, poor when we handed out goody bags (a selection of leftover plants structure etc) or your soil does not lend itself to power harrowing. from the propagation area). Everyone went away tired, inspired We occasionally use a chunky but only 85hp tractor with our 2.5m and well fed, and they’re all still buying a box each week! harrow and this is ok in good conditions.Generally, Kuhn machines have impressed more than some Italian machines – they end to be Peter Dollimore, Hankham Organics less gimmicky but more robust (e.g. no multispeed gearboxes!) Phil Thomas - Linscombe Farm Organic Vegetables. Modules vs drilling Mulching machine Being short of immediately available tunnel space I sowed some coriander in 150 size modules Sept. 15th (planted out 24th Oct.). Sorry I can’t help with the power harrow, we’ve been trying to I drilled another lot on Sept. 25th. After a cold, slow winter the find a decent secondhand 2.0m model for two years – with no joy. drilled crop was cuttable mid March (I don’t bother trying to pick I don’t know if anyone can help with this? We grow 12 acres odd leaves from tiny plants) and I had another good go at it before of raspberries and currants in rows 2.5m apart and we are it bolted mid-April. The module plants never made comparable looking for a machine to top dress the rows with compost. We growth, attaining only half the bulk of the adjacent direct sown have narrow headlands and are really looking for a three point coriander. They were cuttable early to mid April but swiftly ran linkage mounted silage feeder so we can cut the hopper down to seed thereafter. to fit within the bushes but keep the conveyor the same width to Tim Deane, Devon. suit. Any ideas about a decent piece of secondhand kit at not too much money will be gratefully received. Ian & Caroline - Handley Organics, Herefordshire [email protected]

Page 40 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Nature notes – bees, birds, cats and clover

If dogs are a mixed blessing on the farm and vegetable holding, pleasure these past two months is explained, and the cats to a then cats are a necessary evil. The evil comes not from the mere small degree forgiven. irritation of their habits – depositing guts and carcasses on the The little birds live at a faster rate than us humans. Of course they door mat, crapping in the polytunnel and so forth – but from their do – they have to fit a lifetime into a shorter span. It is said that depredations of the bird population. To the cat, more earth-bound they are eight times more tonally acute than we are. If bird song than it would like to be, the quick, bright movement of birds and is recorded and played back at an eighth of its normal speed what their ability to fly is an irritant and a challenge which only the you hear is something very much more musically complex. The laziest or most inept will fail to rise to. Last year, about this time, a skylark’s song, for instance, is revealed as full of curlicues and pair of long-tailed tits came constantly to our windows where they grace notes that we would not normally hear, but which birds winkled out skeins of spiders’ silk from the little vents at the top obviously do. So there is more to the lovely and joyous outpouring of each casement. Anybody who has found a long-tailed tit’s nest, descending from that distant speck of beating wings than we wonderfully intricate bottle-shaped constructions often placed could ever imagine. within the deep recesses of a bramble thicket, will know that no effort is spared in making We are not in skylark country here but, at the other end of the these as luxuriously soft and spectrum, we do have ravens. Usually regarded as birds of ill warm as may be. Hence the omen, they strike us as cheerful and even jokey creatures. They nest time spent gathering the on the heights above, perhaps preserving some ancestral memory spiders’ weft. Alas – our cat of Scattor Rock, which was the easternmost tor on Dartmoor until had them both. Opening the quarried away for roadstone in the 20s or 30s of the last century. front door one morning a Their lifespan is long, and they can hardly live at the eight times sad draught blew in pathetic pace of the little birds. Sonically speaking they are pigs with little clouds of their feathers. wings, snorting and oinking their deliberate way across the sky. Sometimes you may be lucky enough A little while ago, in the brief to see them fly on their backs, even moment before I got to the off switch, Ann Widdecombe came corkscrewing as they go. Until recently on the radio to tell listeners that her cats were always kept in at a 16 ft pole carried the electric line from night, and therefore could not be held responsible for slaughtering our packhouse-shed to the caravans in wildlife. As birds are about by day, but (like Ms Widdecombe’s which we used to live. It was our cat’s cats) tucked up at night, I felt that this missed more than the half delight to run up this pole and sit on of it. the top of it. One day it was up there The necessity of cats for farmer and grower is the undoubted feeling pleased with itself when a raven protection they give our stores of apples, potatoes, seeds etc. from suddenly appeared, determinedly mouse damage. For organic farmers in particular there is another, making its way just above the top of the more subtle or circuitous way in which the cat compensates for adjacent overgrown hedge. The mutual its destructive habits. This has been a wonderful spring here for shock caused the raven to apply its bumble bees. I don’t remember another time when so many queens brakes and sheer off, up and away have been on the wing in March and April, intently quartering the sideways, while the cat reared in alarm hedge bottoms and thickets for nest sites. It was Charles Darwin at this greater blackness than its own, who first pointed out the line that runs from cats to clover, via but clung on to its unlikely perch. mice and bumble bees. Red clover and heartsease (Viola tricolor) Tim Deane are largely or wholly reliant on bumble bees for the pollination of their flowers. Field mice can destroy a very high proportion of the bees’ nests. Where cats abound and kill the mice, more bees survive and so the clover sets more seed and flourishes. Lately, besides our own moggie, several neighbouring cats have taken to spending time in our fields (and perhaps also bearing some responsibility for the crap in the tunnels). If Darwin’s hypothesis is right the humming and bumbling that has given us so much Deane Tim Photo:

Same cat - different pole

Page 41 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Hardy, robust; like a good cabbage I was reading Eliot Coleman’s Four Season Harvest the other Preserving - the future day and I liked that he pointed out that snow can have a positive impact on a hardy, robust crop of brassicas. “Snow is a good So, a closed system is the ideal, clearly, to give security to the box insulator”, he writes. But how about snow having a positive scheme - for the sake of independence, more freedom and (most impact on a box scheme in general? of all) so that we and our customers have food available whatever the weather. At Coleshill we’re working hard to improve our Now that we’re in the middle of a beautifully sunny spring it skills at preserving. We’re reading books, talking to our elderly may seem like a long, long time ago that we had all that snow in relatives, trying stuff out in the kitchen and in the market place. February. The roads came to a virtual standstill; there were empty shelves in a lot of shops, especially those massive shops that sell But just as food items labelled ‘organic’ aren’t always produced everything you can think of. Well, they weren’t selling much fresh particularly ecologically, a ‘preserve’ is not by default food fruit and vegetables that week. preserved from your own land. How much sugar, vinegar, oil, salt and other ingredients that you don’t produce will you need I work at Coleshill Organics in Oxfordshire, and I think the snow (or want) to use? was a good thing for us in that it showed ourselves and our customers how hardy and robust the business is. Of course, when The most ecological preserve I can think of (and have successfully I was making a path through the snow to push my trolley of slimy processed) is dried broad beans. I simply dried any overspill celeriac I wasn’t thinking this. But after I’d trimmed them and from our weekly harvest in the nursery section of one of our put them in a box full of home-grown autumn harvest and then polytunnels (a warm, dry, airy place that is pretty empty outside drove a vanload of these boxes through a world of white at about of springtime). Although dried beans are perhaps the least sexy ten miles an hour I thought, “We’ve done well this week”. It’s not of all the vegetables, I have been trialling various pastes (a sort of a totally self-sufficient business, but because we don’t absolutely broad bean hummus). I think including recipes can help even the rely on weekly inputs we can function without problems in most obscure vegetables become popular. I have a good feeling a two week snow blitz that brings wholesalers, packers and that dried beans can become more popular again, because they supermarkets to their knees. were very much in fashion before the days of meat from factory farms and we all know that fashion is circular! A few years ago I worked on a smaller box scheme in Sweden and this gave me my first taste of the security and robustness Another preserve I have experimented with is passata (tomato of a largely self-sufficient business. The roads rarely come to a sauce that you might cook with pasta). Tomatoes, like broad standstill in Sweden, even at minus 20° and with half a metre beans (or any ‘vegetable’ that is basically a fruit) are another crop of snow (infrastructure and individual are better prepared for that produces inevitable gluts at times and is therefore sensible extreme conditions), but still - they cannot control what goes to preserve – passata from the summer can last until the hungry on outside their land. Therefore, for our own security, every gap if care is taken. Though it is more energy intensive to process single thing we sold was produced on our land – from tomatoes, (the tomatoes and jars need to be heated) it does not require a lot cucumbers and aubergine in the late summer to stored onions, of bought-in ingredients. It is early days, but I believe that simple, carrots, potatoes, leeks (stored with their roots still in soil, trimmed low energy preserves coupled with informed customers can make just before sale). In January and February and the early spring, box schemes much hardier, come rain, snow or sunshine. when fresh stuff and stored stuff was virtually non-existent we Will Johnson supplemented the boxes with crisp bread (made from our rye crop), dried broad beans and pickled cucumbers. Our vegetable boxes would probably be deemed by many people as ‘boring’ or by an ‘expert’ as ‘unmarketable’ since there was little variation from week to week in what people got in their boxes. Still, our customers were educated, they were creative in the kitchen, plus - we were good value and a safe bet. We delivered 100 boxes every week to Uppsala (15 miles away) and the local village. We had a waiting list of customers because we couldn’t satisfy demand. Ultimately, the customers (and would-be customers) were into the idea of a local box scheme.

Page 42 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 Come and join us! OGA Events Update Join the Organic Growers Alliance and help to build an The 2009 OGA events program got of to a shaky start with the effective representative organisation for organic horticulture. regretful cancellation of the Soils Event at Tolhurst Organic Benefit your business through increased opportunities for Produce/Hardwick. More promising are the bookings for the information exchange and new insights into the craft of next event (again at Hardwick) and the four events planned for growing organically. Enjoy the sense of community that comes the autumn. from contact with other growers! Membership includes entry Surely a visit to one of the UK’s most pre-eminent organic growers to all OGA events at cost, subscription to this journal, access for a day focused on a subject so close to all our hearts would be to other forms of communication as they are developed and well attended? Is this a symptom of difficult financial times? Was support from a recognised representative body in dealing with it too expensive? Perhaps it was the fine weather keeping our any regulatory and bureaucratic problems that may affect your heads down, or are the events simply too far out of reach for many business. of you to attend? Full membership is open to anyone whose living depends Would you like to see a series of smaller afternoon and evening wholly or mainly on commercial organic growing. This farm walks spread over a wider geographical sphere with a much includes those employed in practical horticultural research and reduced cost? This might perhaps easier for both hosts and visitors advice. £25. to manage around their day to day lives. I’d love to hear from you Associate membership is available to nongrowers who wish if you’re interested in hosting an event. If there is place you’d like to support the work of the OGA. It covers the same access to to visit or a subject that you would like to see covered, I would be events and publications, but does not include the right to a vote happy to facilitate. in any ballot of members. £25. I can’t overstress my personal belief in the value in downing tools Student membership - as associate membership. £15. and taking the time to meet and chat with other growers and view General enquiries: their holdings. The sense of solidarity and inspiration really is OGA, Bradshaw Lane Nursery, Pilling, Preston PR3 6AX unique. [email protected] It would be great to have your thoughts on these issues and any others surrounding the events programme. Membership enquiries: A big thank you for all those who have agreed to host this year’s [email protected] events and I look forward to meeting all of you that attend the days to come. Small ads James Clapp [email protected] TO LEASE 07973 426152 (day) 01874 636399 (eve) Former specialist mushroom growing unit located in modern 5,000 sq.ft. clear span building. Includes - 6 x 40ft controlled environment containers. Cold room, laboratory, kitchen, W.C. SA approved growing and packing facilities. OGA committee Located near Brecon, Powys.2 miles south of A40. Good access. Would suit a variety of uses e.g. propagation, growing, Alan Schofield, Lancs (Chair): 01253 790046 packing, small scale storage etc..Flexible terms with early entry. Debra Schofield (Treasurer): 01253 790046 Scott Sneddon, Derbyshire: 01629 583009 Contact: Julie Davies: Tel. 01874 638973 [email protected] Roger Hitchings, Carmarthenshire: 01554 810158 GROWER WANTED Phil Sumption, Leicestershire: 024 7621 7744 Canalside Community Food is a CSA based outside Leamington Peter Richardson, Wiltshire: 0782 1403739 Spa currently in its third growing season. We are looking James Clapp, Oxon: 07973426152 for a new main grower to join our team working on 7 acres Patrick Lynn, Notts: 01636 812105 outside cropping and 5 polytunnels, to start end of August. Adam York, Manchester: 07511 546701 For more info contact Caz: Mike Westrip, Powys: 07896 130982. [email protected] Colette Haynes, East Sussex 01273 891943 Peter Dollimore, East Sussex: 01323 741000

Page 43 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009 OGA Events Non-OGA Events 9th June 2009 : Soil Fertility Greathouse Farm, Penpergwm, Abergavenny Tuesday 8th September 2009 – Transition to Local Markets NP7 9UY. OCW event. Contact Tony Little 01970 622248 Blaencamel Farm, Cilcennin, Lampeter, Ceredigion SA48 8DB. Come and visit the long established and innovative holding run 6-9th August 2009. Community Supported Agriculture Conference at by Anne Evans and Peter Segger. The day will include a tour of Green & Away location near Worcester. Organised by the Soil Association. protected cropping, windrow composting and the diverse range It will be a great opportunity for CSAs around the country to get together of crops. The aim of the day is to discuss how holdings make to network. They will also be running technical workshops on how to the transition to supplying local markets. Subjects for discussion develop your CSA and will be hearing from people already involved will also include carbon sequestration and life cycle analysis for in successful initiatives who will be sharing their experiences. Email organic growers. www.blaencamel.com Amy Leech to register interest. [email protected] £10 for members and £15 for non-members (Plus VAT). Event www.soilassociation.org/csa kindly sponsored by Organic Centre Wales. Wednesday 5th August – Managing the future of your soil – the role of green manures. Duchy College, Rosewarne, Camborne, Cornwall. TR14 0AB This event is the culmination of a Defra funded project led by Garden Organic investigating the use of novel legumes in building soil fertility. There will be the chance to hear about which legumes species perform best, novel uses, how they deliver nitrogen to the next crop and Thursday 17th September 2009- Growing big: field their financial and environmental implications for maintaining soil scale organic production Riverford Organic Vegetables. fertility in the future. There will also be a farm walk in the afternoon. Buckfastleigh Devon TQ11 0LD. A great chance to have a look Contact Anton Rosenfeld ([email protected] / 02476 around Riverford farm, guided by farm manager John Richards, 217738) or see www.organicveg.org.uk for further details. Cost £30. including the packhouse, tunnels and a visit to a South Devon Thursday 6th August - The Bioselect UK potato variety demonstration Organic Producers (SDOP) co-op Farm nearby. Subjects covered at Gaddon Spring Farm, Cullompton, Devon. The trial plot has been include field scale production, machinery and protected cropping. planted within one of the first commercial fields of Toluca, Bioselect’s ww.riverford.co.uk £25 for members and £35 for non-members. new blight resistant variety. Along side all their established comercial NB: Growers with a South West holding varieties is the Bioseries which will include the new generation of blight number can claim a 40% reduction thanks resistant varieties. These new varieties show great promise and will to VTS funding arranged by Duchy college. contribute in the struggle towards future food security. Included as a Monday 5th October 2009 - control variety is Sarpo Mira. Refreshments will be provided. Please Diversifying to beat the crunch Coleshill Organics, Coleshill contact Laurence Hasson if you would like to attend or for further details. Swindon, SN6 7PT. Join Pete Richardson and Sonia Oliver for a [email protected] 07775 938472 day at their successful holding. The day will include a tour of the walled garden and polytunnels and will focus on how they are taking steps to adapt and diversify in a changing marketplace. The www.coleshillorganics.co.uk £25 for members and £35 for non- members (Plus VAT). ORGANIC GROWER

Thursday 15th October 2009- The future of organic The Organic Grower is edited and produced by Tim vegetable seed Elsoms Seeds, Spalding, Lincolnshire . Join Deane and Phil Sumption. [email protected] the team at Elsoms for a tour of their facilities near Spalding in [email protected] Lincolnshire. This event is coupled with their annual open day and Thanks to all our contributors is an excellent opportunity to see a wide range of exhibitors. The day will include a tour of their brassica trials ground as well as a Adverts: Remke Cool [email protected] talk on plant breeding and the processes necessary for producing Subscription to The Organic Grower only clean seed. www.elsoms.com £25 for members and £16 for individuals £35 for non-members (Plus VAT). £24 for institutions For all OGA events please book a place in advance (and let us know if you’re not coming!) but payment can be made on the day. Early booking The copy date for the August issue is July 17th avoids us having to cancel events in case of lack of numbers. Contact James Clapp Mobile 07973 426152 or www.newoga.org.uk Evenings:01874 636399 [email protected]

Page 44 - The Organic Grower - No 8 - Spring 2009